The world that lured Demas away still exists today. It’s different than it was then in the first century. In fact, I submit to you that “this present world” is more alluring and more dangerous today than it was then. The world, with all of its temptations, surrounds us. God warns us, through His Holy Word, “Do not love the world.” John writes, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” 1 John 2:15. We can see a contrast of loves in this text. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 8, Paul said that we should love Christ’s appearing [“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”]. Through Demas, we see a contrasting love, a love for the world, a love for this present age.

As we make this contrast between loving Christ—loving Christ’s appearing—and the love of this present age, notice that Jesus died so that we might be freed—delivered—from this present age, or from this world. Speaking of Jesus, Paul writes, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present world” Galatians 1, verse 4 [“Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the Will of our God and Father…”].

So, we see in Demas an example of “misplaced affection” and of “wrong love.” We see also the power of a “distorted love,” a “wrong love,” that caused Demas to forsake a great man of God. That word “forsake,” that we read in the King James Version, means “to abandon,” “to desert,” “to leave in straits,” “to leave helpless,” and “to let one down.” Wrong love and misplaced affections now cause many people to forsake—to abandon, to desert, to leave helpless, to let one down. Some Christians “forsake” the assembly of the saints. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some…” [“not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”]. Many people “forsake” their families by allowing distorted or misplaced affection—distorted love—to draw them away from their family. They have a distorted, misplaced affection, a distorted love for things like a job, alcohol, a roaming eye, or gambling. People also “forsake” such things as their health through the use of tobacco and alcohol, or not observing proper nutrition.

This “wrong love” caused Demas to go to Thessalonica. Have you ever wondered what it was in Thessalonica that lured Demas to go there? Well, one thing is obvious—it was not the work of the Lord. There was a congregation of the church there, but it’s apparent, from what Paul says about Demas, that he did not go there for the purpose of advancing the cause of Christ. Maybe Thessalonica was his home. Maybe he had grown tired or discouraged and he just wanted to go home. Were there friends or family members there? Was it fame or fortune that he was pursuing in Thessalonica? Well, we don’t know, but whatever the worldly appeal which Paul sites here, “the love of the world,” would seem to have been centered, for Demas at least, in Thessalonica. Is there a “Thessalonica” in your life and in my life? If not now, could there be one in our future? Our “Thessalonica” might look like pleasure, popularity, maybe a career, or cynicism. If we’re not careful, many things could take the form of a “Thessalonica” in our lives.

Consider the question that Jesus asked on one occasion, and Peter’s response to that question. John, chapter 6, beginning with verse 66: “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said unto the twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’ Then Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the Words of eternal life?’” [King James Version].

Demas found something in Thessalonica that drew him away. He turned his back on the Lord, no doubt, knowing there was no other place to go. Yet he chose a love of this world over a love for Christ. What happened to Demas? Someone suggested he might have failed to count the cost. We don’t know. He may have become weary of the constant pressure, or need, to conform to Christ, weary of living the life that he needed to live faithfully. He may have grown tired of the fight, tired of all of the persecutions that he had experienced, along with the Apostle Paul. Perhaps these experiences took their toll on him. The years may have taken from Demas the excitement of Christian living and Christian ministry. He was no longer willing to run with patience [endurance] the race set before him, as spoken by the Hebrew writer in Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2 [“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”]. The admonition to set one’s affections, that is, one’s mind, on things above becomes quite significant when we think about and really appreciate what happened to Demas. Paul writes: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” Colossians 3, verse 2 [King James Version]. Demas was lured away by his affection for, by his love for, the world. He did not keep his mind, or his concentration, where it needed to be.