Biting the Hand That Feeds You

In the old days, teeth just didn’t have a good lifespan.  Dental hygiene was mostly non-existent.  Mouth after mouth of enamels turned into woodchips.  As time progressed, dentures were invented.  For the right price anyone can have a Hollywood smile.  Fact: science has gone far beyond veneers, crowns, bridges, bleaching and more.  Science can fake almost any part of the body.  Along with false teeth, there are eye glasses, prosthetics, limbs, altered noses—even wigs.  We have artificial hearts, brain surgery, hip replacements, cochlear implants, cornea transplants—the list is extensive and expensive, surgery and the body, a life partnership.  Take a good look at this hand full of teeth.  Looks pretty scary!  Looks like teeth that might bite the hand that feeds ya.  Wonder which ones are wisdom teeth?  And are they any smarter being called ‘wisdom teeth’ than the others?  Teeth are essential.  We are born toothless and get a few good years out of them, then, they fall out again.  Imagine if the same happened to our feet!  Who would stand for that?  If you’re going to sink your teeth into anything, it should be the Word.

Barnum and Bailey, Sears and Roebuck, George and Martha Washington.  Some things are just destined to be together, like Adam and Eve. Unless some known or unknown force separates them. We all know that Adam and Eve didn’t split up, but after their exit from the Garden of Eden, things were never quite the same. Another life partnership in the New Testament broke up as well.

Paul was the most intellectual and gifted traveling evangelist the world has probably ever known or will know. Countless people owe him their lives for his fierce devotion to the Word of God and his expository preaching and his gifted letters to various individuals and churches. Who wouldn’t want to be a partner with such a charismatic and effective minister who God was supportive of 100%? People knew of his gifts and talents and gathered around whenever he was in town, hoping to bask in the presence of one of God’s chosen. Well, almost everybody felt that way. Some religious leaders resented him deeply for what they saw as an abdication from the Jewish faith that they so fervently believed in.

Of all Paul’s traveling companions, and they were the cream of the crop, one fellow in particular would be a trusted companion and then slowly slip out of the tight circle of fellowship and migrate further and further away from the mission Paul was determined to fulfill. First Timothy sheds light.

“Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved

this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has

gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me.”

1 Timothy 4:10-11

This was near the end of Paul’s life. After a climactic testimony (vs. 6-8), Paul returns to treat worrisome, immediate personal affairs. Why Demas deserted Paul is not known, but it’s obvious, he bit the hand that fed him!