First of all, hello again! I haven't blogged in a long time, and it's for the same old reasons (laziness and lack of inspiration), so we won't go there. But I've been doing pretty good! I crochet, if you didn't know that, and we have ANOTHER bunch of babies blooming up in our church, and I'm also selling a bunch of these Anna and Elsa dolls, so my life has basically been a long almost non stop time of crochet! That sentence wasn't quite right, but I think it helps to illustrate the point a bit more. :) But anyway, let's get to the point of this post, shall we?
I'm in the midst of re-reading through my Bible, and at the moment I am on 2 Timothy. I literally JUST FINISHED chapter four of said book, and I found a verse there that really caught me eye. Paul says in the first part of 2 Timothy 4:10,
"For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica."
Did you catch that? Demas, a man that was with Paul during this time in his life, forsook what he was doing, and pretty much turned his back on Jesus Christ and God, the Creator of everything, for the temporal, worthless things of this world. I don't know what exactly these things were, but compared to God and what he was doing, they are absolutely nothing, whatever they are! I know that this definitely applies to my life, and I'm pretty sure it applies to everyone's in some way. We reject Jesus and the things he has planned for us everyday to follow after the empty promises the world feeds us. Whether it be our dreams, or the things we enjoy, or some kind of fulfillment we're seeking, we do it all of the time. And guess what? It NEVER WORKS!!! In the end, we usually end up with our lives a tangled mess of mistakes, our hearts shattered to pieces, and left all alone with no one to turn to. Now this doesn't always happen, but when we choose the things of the world, something along these lines does occur. At the very least, we break our Saviour's heart, and it's a good long while later before our relationship with Him is back to what it was.
Now I want you to take a look at the first part of the very next verse, 2 Timothy 4:11:
"Only Luke is with me."
Demas wasn't the only one to leave Paul. If you look back in verse ten, it says that a man named Crescens and Titus left Paul too. Though it sounds like they left Paul on good terms, Luke was still the only one to remain with Paul during his time of need. We should be faithful like this! To our friends, our relatives, our church family. Don't give up on people, even if they irritate you, or if they seem hopeless, or whatever be the case! Luke stood by Paul through thick and thin, and we should do the same for the people we love. But more importantly, remain steadfast in your faith. Don't leave God for the things of this world! He stays faithful to you, and we should do the same! I don't know if you understand this, but Jesus Christ the Son of God, left Heaven, to come down to our sin filled earth, and gave his precious life for you! Jesus Christ died for YOU, and we leave him behind for some whim or fancy. Remain faithful! Never lose hope! Jesus is always with you, even when it's tough. Don't be a Demas. Be a Luke!
Thank you to whoever reads this, and I pray it encourages you in some way! Goodnight all!
MR
