“Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.” (Colossians 4:14)
The next role-model we meet from Paul’s entourage turns out to be a negative one. Here he’s included in the posse as one of the guys supporting Paul in prison and sending greetings to the Colossians. But listen to this later letter Paul sent to Timothy:
“Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me.” (2 Timothy 4:9-10)
Demas started out on the path of Christ then got distracted by the world and fell in love with it. What is the world? According to John, it includes living for pleasure, possessions, and status. (See 1 John 2:16.)
God gladly gives us some of those things to enjoy, but he demands that we save our love for him. You cannot love the world and live for Christ at the same time.
Think: Could you ever see yourself falling in love with what the world offers – pleasure, possessions, and status? What can you do to protect your heart from becoming unfaithful to God?
Pray: Ask God to help you to love him with your whole life and not to be distracted from serving him by loving the world.
Do: Read (and think about memorizing) 1 John 1:15-17, which describes our choice between loving God and loving the world.