Revelation 2:3-4 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
“We will be tested and proved.”
ISO 9000 refers to international standards for quality management systems (QMS) developed by the International Organization for Standardization. These standards ensure that the products and services of an organization are consistent, reliable, customer-focused and continually improving.
The Bible is our spiritual ‘quality check mandate’. A quality check mandate is an official instruction, responsibility, or requirement to ensure that a product, service, process, or work meets a defined standard of quality. The time, treasure and talent that we invest into God’s kingdom would go through a QMS check before it is approved. In the letter that Jesus wrote to the church of Ephesus, He says, “You have abandoned your first love you had for Me”. It is easy to become dutiful yet not diligent, tenacious yet not tender and circumspect yet not compassionate. As we grow in God, we could become complacent and careless. The Spiritual ISO 9000 standard checks for our continuous consistent and fervent love for God.
When Solomon was advanced in year, he strayed from his first love towards God and His commandments. The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (1 Kings 11:9). Solomon had two personal and profound encounters with God, yet he forsook the Lord in his old age. His pagan wives and concubines enticed him to abandon his first love for the Lord and follow other gods. The one who built the magnificent temple for the Lord had no fire in him at the end of his journey.
It is not how we start the race but how we finish that will mark us with the spiritual seal of ISO 9000. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
Spiritual ISO 9000:
- Comfort: Don’t let your comfort lose your passion for prayer.
- Career: Don’t let your career steal your time with God.
- Comrades: Don’t let your friends lead you astray from God.
“Don’t lose your first love for God.”
Prayer: Dearest Lord Jesus, I love you with all my heart, soul and everything within me. Amen.
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