What Happened To Demas? – Part 2

for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 2 Timothy 4:10

Again we ask, ‘What happened to Demas?’ 1) Was he troubled by Paul’s diminishing prestige? When Paul came to town, church growth exploded—and so did riots. In one town the new converts brought out pornographic books and artefacts of witchcraft and burned them in the town square. That didn’t win Paul any points with the publishers and manufacturers! He had the social status of a leper in a health colony. Who said the Christian life was supposed to be easy? Not Jesus: ‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’ (John 15:18-19). Attack is a sign of respect; it means you haven’t been conquered. Indeed, the level of the attack that comes against you is an indicator of the level of God’s blessing that awaits you beyond it. 2) Did he resent Paul’s growing ostracism by professing Christians? A man asked his friend, ‘How’s the world treating you?’ He replied, ‘The world treats me just fine, it’s the saints who give me a hard time!’ Sometimes the church supported Paul financially, other times he had to make tents to support himself. So how did he respond? ‘…I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved’ (2 Corinthians 12:15). The burning desire in Paul’s life was ‘…to be well pleasing to [Christ]’ (2 Corinthians 5:9). Is that your desire, too?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to persevere in proclaiming salvation in Your Name – the name of Jesus! Amen