If it meant he loved money more than he loved Jesus, I think I can distance myself from the guy. If it meant that he loved “the pleasure of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:25 KJV), more than he loved the righteousness of the kingdom forever, then I think I can stand apart and maybe even cast a disparagement or two. But if Demas’s real issue is that he simply didn’t want to die, then it gets a little more uncomfortable for me.

Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

(2Timothy 4:9-10 ESV)

Paul knows that the fight is almost over, that the race is about done, and that all that remains is “being poured out as a drink offering” (2Tim. 6-7). The end is near, he will die at the hand of the Romans. And so, he writes to Timothy, “Come to me soon.” I need some encouragement. I need some support. And, bring my books and parchments, because I need to finish strong. So, come to me soon. Because Demas has deserted me.

And why did Demas, this once beloved co-laborer in the gospel (Col. 4:14, Phm. 1:24), bail on Paul? Because he was in love with this present world.

Don’t know why those are the words that struck a chord this morning (yeah, I do . . . thanx a lot, Holy Spirit), but they have.

I can’t count the number of times I have read about, studied, or heard a message on Demas’s desertion of Paul. And as I think back, I believe I’ve most often reacted to this verse with a shake of my head, a “Tsk, tsk” on my lips, and a certain sadness in my heart at the apparent 180 taken by this once faithful follower. Abandoning Paul, I’ve thought most often, must have been because he abandoned the kingdom.

But what if Demas went back to Thessalonica and continued to encourage the saints? What if he still read his bible, prayed for people, and witnessed faithfully? What if he was anything but an apostate but was, instead, simply not ready to die?

To hang with Paul was to be in danger with Paul. To serve alongside the persecuted was to run the risk of being persecuted. To support one sentenced to death was to risk being caught up in the execution. What if Demas just felt he still had too much to live for?

What if being in love with this present world simply meant that he had a wife he wanted to love, kids he wanted to see graduate, a daughter he wanted to walk down the aisle, and grandkids he wanted to one day spoil? What if, while in his head he believed along with Paul that “to live is Christ and die is gain” (Php. 1:21), in his heart he wasn’t yet fully abandoned to “the gain” but still held tightly on to some dreams?

I don’t know. But couldn’t loving this present world just mean that he still really wanted to be present in this world and that continuing in Rome put that in jeopardy? I’m thinkin’ . . .

If so, then it hits a little closer to home — this present home.

Oh, that my mind and my heart would be increasingly fixed “on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). That the Spirit within me would bring into sharper focus the fullness of my salvation before me so that my faithfulness would not be constrained by a love for this present world.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

~Helen Howarth Lemmel~