THE VERSE
For Demas, in love with the present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.~2 Timothy 4:10
THE THOUGHT
This is one of the most sobering verses in the Bible. Paul, writing his last letter from a Roman prison, gives us a glimpse into the sorrow that had surrounded him at the very end of his life. Most of his traveling companions had either deserted him or moved on in their ministries, and false teachers, perhaps sensing his time of weakness, had stepped up their attacks on him. But the sad case of Demas is perhaps the most tragic of all.Demas had long been one of Paul’s close missionary companions. He sent his greetings along with Paul’s letter to the Colossian church and to Philemon. He was a missionary, a servant, seemingly a model Christian. But now, when it really counted, where “the rubber meets the road,” Demas’s true stripes were revealed. Once seemingly in love with Christ, Paul’s trials finally unmasked the true desires of Demas’s heart: “in love with the present world.” Oh, how insidious worldliness is! The fall of Demas certainly didn’t happen overnight. It was probably a long, slow slide from apparent fervor for the gospel into love for the things of the world.
We probably all know someone like Demas—someone who burned passionately for Jesus and then slowly dimmed and faded until they fell away into sin and hardness of heart. But rather than pridefully pointing out people who have backslidden, we must tend to our own hearts. Be on your guard against worldliness! The thorns of “the cares and riches and pleasures of this life” grow quietly in the human heart, slowly stifling spiritual growth with soul-strangling comfort and prosperity. The Christ who was once so clearly visible to you in the Word is gradually replaced by the fog of trivial pursuits.
Fight this worldliness! Take hold of the life that is really life, and be on guard against temptation. Fight and pray to see Jesus more clearly, and put to death the sin you harbor in your heart, lest you find yourself drifting like Demas into ruin.
THE PRAYER
Holy Spirit, Protect me from worldliness! I want to know and treasure Jesus above every fleeting pleasure in this world. I want to be conformed to the image of Christ so that I am more similar to Him than I am to my own neighbors. I can’t fight worldliness alone; I need Your help to empower this battle and keep me from stumbling. Only You can bring me to glory; help me, Holy Spirit, to fight the worldliness in my heart.EXTENDED READING
2 Timothy 4:9-16Colossians 4:14-15
Luke 8:4-15
1 John 2:15-17
THE QUOTE
“Our best works are shot through with sin and contain something for which we need to be forgiven.” ~J.I. PackerTHROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Isaiah 1-2Proverbs 18
Luke 20:27-40
Hebrews 1:1-9
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