(2Ti 4:10) “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world,…..”  The saved are both spirit and flesh. The spirit loves the things of God; the flesh loves the things of this world. We each struggle with this, living with either one or the other dominating. When money gets tight, or living for God gets tough, others can then see towards which we have been living. It comes out through our actions and conversation.

 (2Ti 4:8) “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” I believe it is safe to say that this is the reward of imputed righteousness, the reward of faith (like that of Abraham [Rom 4]). Faith believes what God says and acts upon it. The act here is simply in love expectantly looking for what God has promised, our Savior whom we love back (1 John 4:19) returning for us!

 (2Ti 4:7) “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”  Saved, like it or not you are involved in a war. It is spiritual. We do not physically strike our enemies, but overpower them through the Word of Faith. If you ignore God’s Word, then you will daily lose the fight and thus rendered ineffective for God.

(2Ti 4:7) “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”  As I read in the OT regarding the kings, many would start off living for the Lord, but then stray. The saved have something they did not – the sealing of the Holy Spirit. He keeps us in Christ and therefore we have the desire to live for His glory! Fighting, finishing right, keeping the faith, is the result of allowing the Holy Spirit to live through us.

DAILY DROP OF WATER  (2Ti 4:6) “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”  When one has the true mindset that their day of death is near, it frees them. They begin to see this world and the things of it, their possession as well as their relationship with their loved ones, rightly. All your possessions will be left behind. If you have not invested yourself in those you love you leave them without hope. You have not been promised tomorrow. Live this day for your Lord – you may not have another chance. 

(2Ti 4:5) “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” To make “full proof of thy ministry” is to minister in such a way as to prove you are God’s man. Our conduct before both the lost and the saved is to be such, that one can see the effect of the new birth in us. We have been made different from the world and should live like it. Why would those who have been freed from the power of sin wish to live like the lost? Live so others may know you are God’s sons and daughters!  

(2Ti 4:5) “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”  The “work of an evangelist” is not going to churches and preaching, but simply the giving out of the gospel. This is something we all are to do, but a true evangelist is actually a missionary. In order to achieve his work, he must and does evangelize. This is the office of evangelist. Proof? Is there any mention of an office of missionary? A missionary and an evangelist are one and the same.

(2Ti 4:5) “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”  “Endure afflictions”: that’s enough right there to stop most professing Christians from being faithful to the Lord. They expect blessings. In their mind, afflictions are not blessings. Yet, afflictions are blessings: Rom_5:3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;; Jas_1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;”; Act_5:41  And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”; Heb_11:35 “…. and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:”; Joh_16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”  It sounds to me as if the Lord says, “Afflictions are blessings in disguise.” 

(2Ti 4:5) “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”  No matter what others do, “…watch thou in all things…..”  You see the signs. The end is near. Therefore be more faithful than ever! Heb_10:25,  “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” 

(2Ti 4:4) “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”  Contrast these professors of Christianity with Psa 119:128, “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.”   Compare what they say to what you have read.