Ephesians 1:15
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
When Paul talks about the church of Ephesus, he mentions two things that he heard about this church. He heard about their faith, and he also heard about their love. What a wonderful commendation Paul gives to this church. However, something happened between Paul writing to this church and John writing about this church. John said in Revelation 2:4, Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. This church still had love, but they lost their first love. What happened to this church when they lost the love that Paul talked about? What happened was they stopped soul winning, which resulted in them not attempting things by faith, which resulted in them losing their first love.
Faith and love are critical to the Christian life. Without faith you cannot please God, and without love you cannot be a good representation of God, for God is love. Let me illustrate. Many churches focus on love but never do anything for God. What these churches call love is not God’s love. God explains true love in John 3:16 which says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God’s love is further explained in Luke 19:10 which says, For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. In other words, without soul winning your love is not true love. Let me share how you get true love.
First, you must have faith before you can have love. You will notice that Paul heard of their faith before he heard of their love. Why is this? This happens because faith produces love. The more you attempt by faith, the more you will love people. When did Jesus have compassion on the multitudes? Matthew 9:36 gives us the answer: But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. As Jesus got among the multitudes while soul winning is when He had compassion on them and saw their needs. Without faith you cannot have love because faith produces love.
Second, without soul winning, you cannot have faith. It all starts with soul winning. The church of Ephesus lost their first love which was the love to reach the lost, and that loss of love caused them to stop living by faith, and when they stopped living by faith is when they did not have the love that Paul talked about. My friend, it comes down to being a personal soul winner. Soul winning produces faith because it produces a love for people, and a love for people stirs your faith.
Let me illustrate this great truth. A person begins soul winning because he is commanded to be a soul winner. That same person starts leading people to Christ because they are doing a work of faith. However, as they do the work of faith, it grows their love for people because they see the great need for people to be saved. This need for people being saved causes them to attempt more by faith for God, which grows their love. In other words, the more you go soul winning, the more you will attempt by faith, and the more you attempt by faith, the more your love for people will grow.
If you don't want to have an anemic love, then don't be an anemic soul winner. You cannot love people without going soul winning. Start going soul winning and it will grow your faith, and as your faith grows, your love will also grow.