< Back

Read: 2 Timothy 4:3-5
Listen: 2 Timothy 4

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. 2 Timothy 4:3

Paul warns Timothy to expect resistance to the gospel and its effects. Paul knows the most significant resistance won’t come from culture. Instead, the greatest resistance comes from the hearts of people within the church. Paul says plenty of teachers are willing to avoid the truth and share what people’s “itching ears” want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). Paul challenges Timothy to take a different path and teach the truth of the gospel, even when it isn’t popular.

Part of the human condition is desiring to be told what we want to hear. We want to hear that the cancer will just go away, not that God will grant us the grace to endure. We want to hear that God will bless us and we will be financially secure rather than hearing that God is sufficient to meet our needs. We want to hear it’s okay to hold a grudge and remain bitter rather than forgive as Christ forgave us. But God calls us, through his power, to surrender our desires to him. In doing so, we find he has a full, abundant life for us (John 10:10).

TODAY: Ask God to reveal when you don’t want to hear him. Confess anything he reveals. “God, I admit that I sometimes resist you when_________. Please forgive me. Open my ears to hear what you say, and help me live your way, not mine.”

JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT:

Read 2 Samuel 9-10. Highlight anything that points to Jesus. Note how David cared for Jonathon’s son like one of his own.