God’s Word for You

2 Timothy 4:9-10 Come to me soon

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, July 14, 2026

9 Do your best to come to me soon, 10 for Demas, because he loves this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

“Come to me soon. Do your best.” There were two or three reasons for Paul to talk this way. First of all, and the first reason Paul gives, is that he was deserted by his friend, pupil, and co-worker, Demas. The desertion of Demas was a painful tragedy. In Paul’s earlier imprisonment, Paul wrote to the Colossians and also to Philemon sending greetings from Demas (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24). Demas was grouped with Luke and even Mark in those greetings. This tells us that he was working closely with Paul and with the authors of the second and third Gospels; Demas was surrounded by men (Paul, Mark, and Luke) who were authors of Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, leaders in the early Christian church. But it was their faith that he should have been encouraged by, not their fame or notoriety. We don’t know just why Demas deserted Paul, but there are plenty of reasons for pastors to fall from their positions. John said, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

So there is a danger of falling from grace. While Christians are preserved in faith by the power of God, and we are encouraged to remain steadfast (Matthew 10:22, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved”), it is possible to fall away. “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). Some, like David and Peter, fell away temporarily (2 Samuel 11:12; Matthew 26:33-35). Others, like Judas and Saul, fell away permanently.

Sometimes this is on account of temptations, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17). Or there can be a lack of watchfulness: “If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you” (Revelation 3:3). It can be brought on by a lack of prayer, showing that the person no longer wants to be in touch with God, for Jesus warns: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

Another cause is indifference, when people think that they have heard enough of God’s word. What then? Amos proclaims what he has been told: “The days are coming when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).

Finally, there is also carnal security, when people become convinced that what they have been doing or saying or even thinking isn’t a sin after all. Peter claimed so foolishly, “Even if all fall away, I will not” (Mark 14:29), and yet began denying Christ later in the same night (Mark 14:40, 68, 71).

Paul warned the Romans: “Do not be arrogant (about your faith), but be afraid” (Romans 11:20). The temptation for Demas was to separate himself from Paul and the prison and head to Thessalonica. Whether this was on account of an opportunity for business, or an easier ministry position (yet he abandoned Paul!), or for the love of a young woman, or some other reason? Paul’s judgment is much more severe and it is what we must rely on: “He loved this world.” He was no longer thinking of the next world, of our place with Christ in heaven. An ancient sage wrote: “His heart was ashes, his hope was cheaper than dirt, and his life was worth less than clay.”

The Apostle John tells us all: “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15), and by this he means loving the world more than Christ. It is not wrong to love the shade of an oak, the scent of a rose, the beauty of a sunset, the joyful stinging rasping cry of the blackbird, the taste of new peas from the pod right there in the garden rows, or the feel of cool water on bare feet. But it is wrong to say, “I care more about these and other things that I can see, hear, feel, touch, and taste more than I care about my place before God.” Our impulse should be to fall on our faces to worship God along with the elders before his throne (Revelation 11:16).

The other men in the verses were on trips for Paul and had not deserted him. Crescens is a Roman name; we don’t know anything about him apart from this verse, but the fact the Paul sent him to Galatia tells us that he was a trusted co-worker. We know that Titus did many things for Paul. He has been described as Paul’s “troubleshooter.” Here he is sent off to Dalmatia, which was a region on the west coast of Greece, across the sea behind Italy’s boot. Today the area of ancient Dalmatia is mostly occupied by Croatia and the small nation of Montenegro. We probably associate the name now with the white, short-haired black-spotted dogs that are such good sprinters that were first bred there (at least as far back as the fourteenth century) and are named for Dalmatia.

Paul says as much about the faithful men Crescens and Titus with no words at all except their destinations as he does about the unfaithful Demas with many words. For Crescens and Titus needed no introductions, no explanations, and obviously no warnings. They were his friends, his companions, students, and co-workers who could be trusted with the ministry of the saving Gospel. What other words would need to be said in a letter like this one? They were worthy men; they served Christ.

This is the judgment we would pray for to describe ourselves and our work, whatever it may be, but especially in the kingdom of God; that there would need to be no footnotes, no cautions, no other words than the best kind of report: Worthy men, worthy women. May we be thus in the sight of God and his angels, and in the sight of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Christian Church.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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