Is it possible to get so distracted and out of touch that you are required to "'remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place -unless you repent'" (Rev 2:5)? A more precipitous drop would be where "the falling away comes first" (2Th 2:3). How do you protect yourself from this possibility? Christ "is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand" (Jude 24). The Ephesian church had "been enlightened" (Heb 6:4), had "tasted of the heavenly gift" (:4), were "partakers of the Holy Spirit" (:4), and had "tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come" (:5). But they had "left [their] first love" (Rev 2:4) and were being required to repeat their first deeds and reestablish a right attitude. Also, there are those who "have fallen away, and it is impossible to renew them again to repentance" (Heb 6:6). Reasons responsible for this are presented in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-8 and 18-23. Jesus explains the remedy saying, "'If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you'" (Jn 15:7). The importance of this is cited by the words abide/abides occurring a dozen times in chapters 2-3 of First John. It comes under the subject of having a relationship. The First Commandment is "'You shall have no other gods before Me'" (Ex 20:3) in the context of God "'showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments'" (:6). Jesus taught, "'If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love'" (Jn 15:10). "'This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you'" (:12). John reiterates, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" (1Jn 4:7).
The initial chapters of First John emphasize this as John used the words write/written ten times. "'Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it" (Hab 2:2). He states, "I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard" (1Jn 2:7). The church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Eph 2:20). Therefore the word is what the apostles taught having received the teaching from Jesus at the implementing of his ministry. "This is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another" (1Jn 3:11). It "is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning" (2Jn 6). Of course it occurred at the beginning of Christ's ministry, but furthermore, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). "He was in the beginning with God" (:2) and "all things came into being through Him" (:3). These commands came to the apostles during their discipleship, but being Israelites, by extension they originate in the beginning of the Old Testament. "'You shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord. You are to keep my statutes'" (Lev 19:18-19). "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might'" (Dt 6:5).