Itching Ears

Read 2 Timothy 4:1-8.

Paul is near the end of his life. Many scholars believe 2 Timothy may have been the last thing Paul wrote; it's certainly the last thing he wrote to his young son in the faith, Timothy. So Paul is looking back, and perhaps even at times wondering if anything he did would last. Would it matter, after all? Would his work last beyond his lifetime?
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:6-7).

Paul already knew (or sensed) that times would come when his teaching would be ignored, when even Jesus would be ignored. I don't think Paul writes these words as any sort of prophet, but as a keen observer and someone who understands human beings. We swing between opposites. We're hot one day and cold the next. Paul knew in his spirit that times would come when men and women would tire of "the old, old story" and look for "the new." We are easily distracted; we are quickly bored. And so Paul knows that there will be times when our ears will be "itching" and we'll look for something to "scratch" them.

Things like...

  • God wants you to be wealthy and God will never let anything "bad" happen to you. (Didn't Jesus say "blessed are the poor"?)
  • If you just believe something strongly enough, God will have to give it to you. (Did anyone believe in God more than Jesus? And yet his request in Gethsemane was denied. We forget that we are God's servants, not the other way around.)
  • Salvation will come and our nation will be better if we just get all Christian politicians elected. (Again, to quote Chuck Colson, "Salvation will not come on Air Force One.")
  • And then there are folks who seem to be willing to believe anything. If it's on television, if it's in a book, if it's on the internet, it must be true—even if it has roots in other religions or in the occult, even if it is diametrically opposed to the message of the Bible.
Our ears are itching, and we look for something to satisfy that itch. It's not a new thing. It's why reformations and renewals and revivals are constantly needed in the church, to point us back to the true and living way, the life that really is life. (It's why a seminary professor of mine suggested we read two old books for every "new" book we read.) We forget that what we "want" is often not what we need. Jesus came to bring us what we need, and no matter how difficult it is to understand or to live out, it's still the best choice for us. The old, old story is the one that brings life, hope, and salvation.

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