Itchy Ears

Do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your ordinances.

✙ Psalm 119:43

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Throughout the history of God's people, there has probably never been a time when the faithful have not been tempted to go astray after falsehood. There tends to be a difference between what we want to hear and what God wants us to listen to, and we often fall prey to the former temptation.

Conventional wisdom has always said that we are constantly in danger of giving in to popular culture. And maybe we are. But more often than not, when Christians have flirted with modernity, we have discovered new (and often necessary!) ways of reaching out to those around us. Indeed, the church's downfall has more often been our desire to stay where we are... or even to go backwards. 

The Apostle Paul frequently harped on the theme of legalism, practically begging his fellow Christians not to go backwards, looking not to grace but to the law for salvation. And when the Christians identify with political movements, and confuse government leaders with God's Anointed, then the threat to our faith is real.

The "word of truth" Psalm 119 speaks of is not the truth we think we want to hear, but the truth God's speaks into our ignorance, into our depravity. Before we act to change the world, we must first hear from God the direction that change should take.
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For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.

✙ 2 Timothy 4:3-4

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Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:

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Forgive me when I confuse your truth with my opinion, O God. Lead me in your truth and show me the way I should go.

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After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.

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