Itching ears

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 2.3-4

The time is going to come when people are not going to want to hear sound teaching, but who are only going to want to have their ears tickled with things that fancy them and what they like to hear.

I love that Greek phrase because it is so descriptive. We don’t really have a good English translation, but we sure know what it means. It means that people like to hear what appeals to them. People will look for the answer they want until they find it.

We all want people and we want people to like what we so. Most of us don’t want people to get angry at us. Most of us are not looking to pick a fight.

So it is easy to decide to scratch those itching ears.

As preachers we can't ever afford to tickle ears. As hearers we must not be content to have our ears scratched like some dog getting what he wants. Our desire should be to have our ears burning so our hearts will be challenged.

Preachers, don’t give in to itching ears. Hearers, don’t be satisfied with having your ears scratched. Demand the word and the word alone,