David Jeremiah Daily Devotional February 17 2022 :
For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica.
2 Timothy 4:10
Recommended Reading: Colossians 4:14
If someone you barely know fails to follow through on a commitment, it’s disappointing. But when someone you know intimately fails in the same way, it’s hurtful. There is a correlation between intimacy and hurt: The closer we are to a person, the more it hurts when they disappoint us.
That correlation must have been present when a man named Demas deserted the apostle Paul when the latter was under house arrest in Rome. Demas and Paul had a history, a relationship. In two of the epistles written by Paul from Rome—Colossians and Philemon—the apostle mentioned Demas as being with him in his confinement. In Colossians 4:14, Paul mentions Demas in the same breath as Luke. And in Philemon 1:23-24, Demas is one of five fellow believers mentioned by Paul as being with him. But during Paul’s second and final imprisonment in Rome, Demas deserted him (2 Timothy 4:10). We don’t know why—only that he “loved this present world.”.
When (not if) we are disappointed in others, we must turn to the One who will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God.
Frederick W. Faber
Credit for today’s devotional by David Jeremiah : davidjeremiah.org