Itching Ears… Hello Hump Day readers. As we continue this time of fall-out and spiraling in our country, many people wonder “Will we ever come back to the America we know?” We all have changes but these changes today are different. Families can barely put food on the table; every day seems to have more hurt and it piles on and on and on.

In 2 Timothy 4:3 we see how things we used to love and know are now trashed. Timothy was right when he warned his people saying: “For the time is coming when they will no longer listen and respond to the healing words of truth because they will become selfish and proud.”

I am doing some doctoring which is really something I do not like! But you need to take care of yourself so you go to a doctor for your annual check-up. Then they will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, “Does this hurt?” That drives me nuts—if someone is poking and prodding what do you think it feels like?! But when it hurts it hurts and that cry of pain has one of two things that happened—either the doctor has pushed too hard without the right sensitivity, or, more likely, there’s something wrong, and the doctor will say, “We’d better do some more tests!” When I hear ‘tests’ I want to run!!

But it isn’t always medical problems we encounter—it’s all kinds of subjects and sadly, most of them are really not true but we still find ourselves falling into ‘traps’ and that is not what God wants us to do.

As a pastor, one of the things I try to do is NOT get into touchy subjects, especially in church! Yes, we need to share what is right and wrong but often, when those touchy subjects and people get riled up, the battle begins. This person cries out in discomfort, another criticizes the pastor’s message and a day of church is more like a shouting match!

As a pastor, we need to share kindly and not push too hard especially in church! All of us have a message of what our life in Christ is about. It’s not something to push, it is a time to share back and forth without rigor or ugly words. After all, we need to remember that God has set us out to be a messenger to go out and share God’s love, joy, and grace.

Today’s Scripture is clear that there will come a time when people will stop putting up with sound doctrine. They’ll want to hear what makes them feel good instead of the truth. They prefer living under the illusion that things are okay with them instead of discovering the truth that there is something very wrong underneath the surface!

Remember this: The Bible is a tool that the Great Physician uses to poke and prod in order to identify areas of concern in our lives. So, the next time you read Scripture or hear teaching that makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself if the pressure is too high, or if maybe there is something under the surface that needs to be checked out. Thinking we know everything is bad thinking…it just gets us underneath the surface and it’s hard to get out!

Precious Lord, help us to discern if there are any areas of our lives where we have those ‘Itching Ears’ that give us problems under the surface. We pray that you would give us the resolve to react appropriately when the “prodding” hurts, AMEN.