Verse: 2 Timothy 4:3-5
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. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Devotion
Is it what I want to hear? Or is it the truth?
One of my weaknesses as a person is I have a hard time being honest with someone if it's going to cause conflict. For instance, if someone hurts my feelings, I'd rather just try to "get over it" on my own than be honest with them about it. But to really take the next step in our relationship I need to be honest. I need to say what is true, not what I want to say that will keep the peace.
Or take this example: when I'm coaching someone in soccer, it can be tempting to just be encouraging. To just say "what someone wants to hear." But is that good coaching? Is that even loving? Isn't it better coaching to tell someone the truth, even if it's hard to hear?
Paul warns us that there will be people who will take the truth of the Bible and change it to make it easier. They will make it "what we want to hear" rather than the truth. This is so tempting because it's easier, but it's also deceptive and dangerous. Jesus tells us the Truth will set us free—not a false version of the truth that's what our itching ears want to hear.
If we really want to be free and live the lives God has for us, we need to be willing to hear the Truth. Let's keep an eye out for when we are justifying our actions, or compromising our beliefs to make things easier. Let's be aware of when others are doing the same. And let's keep coming back to Scripture as our foundation, our litmus test, for truth in our lives.