Watch Out for Ear Scratchers
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
2 Timothy 4:3,4
What do you do when you have an itch you just can’t quite scratch? Maybe you ask your spouse to get that spot. Or you have a backscratcher shaped like a little hand. Or you rub the itch on something that takes care of it.
What do you do for itching ears? No, Paul’s not talking about itchiness from allergies or poor hygiene. He’s talking about ears itching for affirmation and approval.
Let me stop you right here. When you read the passage from 2 Timothy or saw the words “affirmation” and “approval,” did you immediately think of all those people who twist the Bible to say what they want it to say and find as many people as possible who agree with them so they can keep on living their lifestyle? Sure, Paul’s talking about them.
But he’s warning you, too. Those teachers aren’t the only ear-scratchers. The teachers Paul mentions don’t even have to be religious or “Christian” teachers. They can be philosophers, news pundits, and influencers. What are your ears itching to hear? Whom are you allowing to teach you?
Have you gathered around yourself teachers who affirm your greed? Maybe they don’t proclaim, “Greed is good,” like Gordon Gekko. But they do tell you that you don’t have to be generous with your hard-earned money. That’s all for you.
“Greed is good.” — Gordon Gekko, Wall Street
Have you found teachers who affirm your hate? Teachers who despise the people you despise, who teach you new and different ways to be outraged and loathing, who know you’ll keep coming back because hate is so much more addictive than love.
Have you abandoned teachers who did not give you the affirmation and approval you sought? Teachers who showed you from the Bible that your desires and actions were wrong, who, instead of scratching your ears and affirming your sins, told you that those sins were unacceptable to God.
As affirming and approving as such teachers may be, they are merely pandering peddlers of myths. Salvation doesn’t mean affirmation and approval of a person’s sinful desires. Jesus saves us FROM our sinful desires which lead us away from life with God now and in heaven. That’s the truth!
The next time you find yourself sitting at the feet of a teacher you’ve found, be they in a coffee shop, in your living room, on your TV or phone, ask yourself, “Is this person telling me what I need to hear or what I want to hear?” Better yet, ask yourself, “Is this person telling me what my God says or are they echoing what my heart says?”
And if you find they are only telling you what your itching ears want to hear, if they are denying what God says about greed, about hate, about sex—about any sin—run away! Turn off the screen! Run to the truth of God’s Word which condemns your sin but reveals your Savior Jesus who won’t scratch your ears but who will soothe the itching.