What Do You Love? August 5, 2018
This is right after Paul knows he is ready to be offered (2Tim. 4:6). What a burden knowing one of his friends fell away.
2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica;
The broken heart of Christ in Paul. Demas was his fellow laborer in the gospel, yet Demas had forsaken the gospel that was given to Paul. He departed from that truth. He loved the world more than Paul’s gospel. Demas is a representative of the church of Ephesus. They ran well but they left (divorced) their first love. They left the joint-heirs as husband and wife gospel.
Demas means “popular with the people”. When we become lovers of this present world, we’re taken away. The feelings of the flesh will defeat you; they will turn us away from finishing, from the first love gospel, from the love of the truth. Paul wrote if by any means I may apprehend Him. Apprehend Him in the height of who He has revealed Himself to be. They ran well but the cares of this life and the weights of the world hindered them.
Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it ishigh time to awake out of sleep: for now isour salvation nearer than when we believed.
Wake up, it’s time! The bride that is in love lives at the moment. My Bridegroom is coming today! It’s not what you know, it’s what’s abounding in your heart. Do you care? It only happens one way; abiding in the glory doctrine. Nothing is worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. When I see Him, I will be like Him.
I John 3:2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
If His great love is your treasure, that love always overcomes. That’s how we become full overcomers. His love lifts you out of everything. It lifts us out of our concerns, our drama, our temptations, every hurt, every disappointment, and every lie of the world. True love must garner your attention. True love treasures the love of the lover. When this vison of love for us becomes our own, then it sees the promises of God’s love. It sees beyond circumstances, to God’s possibility. Why not walk in the promises of God instead of the sad reality of man? Look past the now and see the future. Set your affection on things above.
Colossians 3:2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Live as the readied wife. What are we longing for every day? Is it winning God’s best to bring Him the greatest joy? This is for Him. What do you love?
Are you like a Demas, where your first love is something in this world? This only leads to Thessalonica = “false victory”. Are you chasing something in this world? If so, you’ve been robbed. We’ve been given the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It’s high time to wake out of slumber!
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