Some can make purpose sound quite individualistic and quite self-oriented when, in fact, each of us is part of something that is bigger than we are. As Christians, we are part of the Kingdom of God; we are part of a great plan of God that has been intricately designed from before the foundation of the world. Added to the dimension of personal struggles and concerns is the dimension that each of us has a part to play out in that great design (cf. Eph 2:1-10). Individuals who stay the course will have an effect on many others and individuals who do not stay the course will also have an effect. When Apostle Paul reported to Timothy that Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica (2Tim 4:10, NAS) that carries with it much more weight than the ounces of mere ink and paper it was written on. It is obvious that Demas, after some amount of consideration and deliberation about something or someone in this present world system, simply decided not to stay the course. No doubt, from his point of view, he had simply changed his mind about a previous commitment but Demas was part of something bigger than himself. His commitment to Paul was a commitment to God; not simply a commitment to “a man who put his pants on just like everyone else.” Not only did Demas forsake his post of duty and leave that vacant but it had a significant effect upon Paul’s ability to get his duty done and that had an effect upon the churches Paul was attempting to bring along to maturity for the furtherance of the Gospel. 

Melissa Gabler will be speaking at Kingdom Congress 2017
March 1-3, 2017. Click on this link to hear an excerpt of
Melissa’s teaching: http://tinyurl.com/h6mrgwv
More info about KC2017: https://martygabler.com/kec2017/