Itching Ears

2 Timothy 4:3 (not part of our reading today) says, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions." In this instruction Paul reminds young Timothy, that people are tempted to look for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Sadly, these teachers will always be there.

Back in Jeremiah's day they were there. During his day the people didn't want to hear that God was going to exile them. They wanted to hear that they were safe and did not need to worry. They didn't want anyone telling them that they needed to repent to avoid impending judgment. So they heaped to themselvs the false prophets. They found a message that they liked better than Jeremiah's, and though it was a lie, they took it in. Of course, they took it in to their own peril.

Jesus spoke of false prophets as well in Mark 13. In verse 22 He says, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand."

From the first false prophet that came in the form of a serpant in the garden, to Jeremiah's day, to the end of the ages, there have been false voices available to attached themselves to the unsanctified passions of men. There has always been a voice out there to tell you what you want to hear, instead of what you need to hear.

Three important applications flow from this:

1. Be students of the Word - the truth. The only way you will be able to ward off the tempting lure of the false prophets of our day is to saturate yourself in the Word. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly was Paul's advice.

2. Having saturated yourself with the Word, be faithful to preach and teach it. In 2 Tim 4:2 Paul instructs, "Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of seaon; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." Know that all around you are those who are being tempted by the many competing voices of our age. They are being drawn away from the truth by their own passions and they need a voice in their life that will keep the truth before them.

3. When you are going through a difficult time, make sure you surround yourself with those who will be fully truthful with you. Often in difficutly we will look for voices who will tell us what we want to hear. Sadly, they will be there, and if we listen to them we will be drawn away from the truth, and there are always consequences to following that errant path.

May God help us to pursue the truth and share it with all God places in our path!