Demas
is a co-worker of the apostle Paul.
Colossians 4:14. “Demas, greet
you.” When Paul wrote his second letter
to Timothy a few years later, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world.” II Timothy 4:10. When Paul wrote the letter to the church at
Ephesus, he did not “cease to give thanks” for their “faith in the Lord
Jesus.” Ephesians 1:15-16. A few years later in the letter of Revelation
written by John, he called upon the church at Ephesus to repent because “they
had left their first love.” Revelation
2:4-5.
Regular
church attendance is now less than 20% among all religious bodies. More than one million members of the church
of Christ no longer attend services of worship.
One in five people claim no religious affiliation at all in this
country. While this is alarming, our
real concern is with those who were once faithful members, but have left the
body of Christ. Satan continues to have
an influence with those who have become free from sin through obedience to the
gospel. Jesus had warned during His
ministry that “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold.” Matthew 24:12. The “perilous times” mentioned in II Timothy
3:1-7 would be a time when many would be “lovers of pleasure more than lovers
of God.” II Timothy 3:4.
Our
time, as is true of every time on earth, needs real and genuine
commitment. We, who have confessed
Christ and have been united with Christ in baptism, need to stand in our
faith. We need to flee from the devil
and refuse friendship with the world. We
need to be loyal to the Scriptures and faithful in our service to God. We need to love Christ more than anything
else in this present world. We need to
know that the devil will not cease to pursue us because we are Christians. We need to decide what is important to us as
far as our time is concerned. We need to
be awake rather than slumbering. Let us
not become a Demas. Let us not be a
statistic of the fallen and removed, but let us be willing to march through
hell to reach heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment