“Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” 2 Timothy 4:10a (NRSV). Oh, the pain of Paul’s words! Going back is in the realm of our choice. Is not “love of this present world” going back within itself? I do not want to go back. The promises of this world are a mirage. It will betray my Lord. It will change my story for the worse. It will betray those who follow me. It will be walking away from the “age to come” to only embrace this “present age”. It is a denial that the better Kingdom has come. Going back would mean that I regret having put my hands to the plow (Luke 9:62). “The world behind me, the cross before me; no turning back, no turning back.”
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, ‘Will ye also go away?’ Then Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’.” John 6:67-69
