“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness ... and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. ... Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Tim. 4:8,10).
Paul, the spiritual Christian, was one of those “that love His appearing.” Demas, the carnal Christian, “loved this present world.” Paul was living for eternity; Demas, for time. There was a time when he had faithfully stood with Paul. From the Roman prison, Paul had written to the Colossian saints that “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.” But now Demas had been ensnared by the evil age in which we live, “having loved this present world.” The Lord has plainly told us to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Such world-lovers are untrue to their Lord. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” How different with those “that love His appearing.” Such believers are not only awaiting “a crown of righteousness” at “His appearing,” they are daily “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” and “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
When we look for His returning,
Then we live for Him each day,
And the world cannot allure us,
Neither turn our hearts away.
Col. 4:14; 1 John 2:15; James 4:4; Heb. 12:2; Eph. 5:16.