In Titus, we find another mention of Tychicus. The apostle writes that he was considering two brothers to send to Crete to relieve Titus so that he could come visit the apostle. We learn from Paul’s letter to Titus that Crete was not an easy place to serve the Lord (1:12–13). But Tychicus was a brother who the apostle Paul thought could serve the Lord there because he was faithful. Could the Lord Jesus trust us to serve Him even in a difficult place?

The last mention of Tychicus in the New Testament is in 2 Timothy. When he wrote this epistle, the apostle was sitting in prison, soon to lose his life. In chapter 1, we read that all in Asia—the province that Tychicus was from (Acts 20:4)—had forsaken the apostle. They had not forsaken Christianity, but they had departed from the apostle’s teaching and example of living according to the heavenly calling of the Church (cf. Phil. 4:9). Now in chapter 4, we read further details about Paul’s coworkers. Demas, a former coworker, had forsaken him, for he loved the present age (v. 10). Crescens and Titus had both gone to their own spheres of service (v. 10). Only Luke was with him in those closing hours of his life. Then he says, “Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.” Here we find that Tychicus was still faithful to the end of the apostle’s life. One of the meanings of faithful is “someone who can be relied upon,” and we see here that Paul could rely upon Tychicus even after “all who are in Asia … have turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). He was faithful to the end, even in the difficult times.

What about you and me? Will we be faithful to the end, in spite of the difficulties? Will we be those upon whom the Lord Jesus and our brethren can depend in these last days before He comes? May it be so for His glory!