What We Need to Hear

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 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.” (II Timothy 4:1-5 NIV)

This was an encouraging message to me this morning.  In the midst of a volatile political season, the Chick-fil-A protests of the summer, and some of the reality checks of working on a university campus, I felt like Paul was writing this to me.  More and more, people want to hear what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.  Politicians know this and rarely speak the whole truth, regardless of political party.  Increasingly, the university culture is making policy that prohibits speech that students may find offensive.  In other words, proclaiming that certain behaviors or lifestyles are sinful may find you in trouble with the university if a student complains.   And in the church, pastors are often dismissed when they begin to confront issues of doctrine and personal conduct.  

As fallen human beings, we often have a hard time hearing and accepting the truth.  We much prefer hearing what we want to hear.  And there will always be people we can find to tell us soothing things.  And therein lies the danger.  The temptation is to run away from the one telling us the truth to the one who will tell us what we want to hear.  In the extreme, we want to prevent the person from saying anything we deem offensive to our ears.  

But the reality is, given we are fallen creatures and prone to error, we all need words of correction and they will not always be pleasant to our ears. As Proverbs 12:1 bluntly observes, “Whoever hates correction is stupid.” So the current trend of having the right not to be offended is troubling because it is easy for the church to get sucked into it, as I have already experienced with some students in recent years.  And what it does is inhibit our growth and maturity.  Like children who grow up without discipline, we remain immature and, for many, eternally lost.

Today, as Paul encourages Timothy to do, keep your head in these times where truth is considered relative to one’s personal understanding.  Don’t get carried along by this deception.  The truth is found in the Word and we all need to be open to its correction.  For what we want to hear is not always what we need to hear.  

© Jim Musser 2012