Only Luke

2 Timothy 4:9-12 KJV

Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:

For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.

And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.

See the Apostle in his prison circumstance. Years have passed since he had first been taken in Jerusalem, transported to Caesarea and finally to Rome. Paul's prison years were well spent in producing what became more than half the books of the New Testament, but it was still prison. People came to see him of course and he led a number of people to a saving knowledge while a prisoner. But time must eventually drain away his team of ministers. Paul describes it in this text.

• Some forsook him
• Some went on to other ministries and
• Some he sent personally on other ministries

He expected that Timothy would eventually make a visit but at the moment of this letter Paul testified that "Only Luke is with me."

There is much to be said for the one who never leaves. It is not that the others are in any way wrong (with the exception, of course, of the Demas types). Life must go on. But the one who stays:

• Regardless of the risk
• Regardless of the price to be paid
• Regardless of necessities elsewhere 

This one will always be held in great esteem for Paul.