What Do You Want To Hear?
What Do You Want To Hear
“For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
2 Timothy 4:3-5
How many times have you gone to a close friend for advice on something? Most of the time we go to that person because they have our back, or they’re in our corner already and most likely, they will tell us what we want to hear. Most of us don’t like to hear “no” as an answer.
We have become a society of comfort and ease. We avoid conflict, dismiss things that make us uncomfortable and turn around when we see something challenging coming our way.
The Bible has so many amazing ways to overcome the things that trouble us. It has the answers, the knowledge and the wisdom for our lives.
So why do we “cherry-pick” what we like and ignore what we don’t? As Paul says in Second Timothy, we go to people that tell us what we want to hear. Instead we should be finding those that will tell us what we need to hear. We want the easy conversation and for our ears to be “tickled”. When what we should be doing is finding the truth.
Sound doctrine is in the bible, in context, not transformed or rewritten for our ideals. It is the truth and to some, it’s the hard truth.
I am struggling right now in my life. My family is struggling. We pray for comfort and peace daily - and it’s right in front of us. The bible brings us peace and it is a living testimony of the goodness of God. We shouldn’t ignore the significant value the Bible contains. The treasure of God’s promises, the history or righteousness and the value of our lives to Him - are all contained within.
Sure there is hardship, it’s all around us, but there is also comfort and peace in knowing the word of God. We have to stop searching and campaigning for answers that fit our desires. Our needs are laid out in front of us in the Bible. And the provider of those needs is our Heavenly Father, God.
The more we concentrate on our deficiencies and discomforts, the less we allow God to create a good work in us. We turned our lives to Christ. We chose to put our faith in Him. Yet we find it so hard to trust that He knows what is best.
So often I cut His work short because of my anxiety, my stress, my past and my emotions. The single hardest thing to do is to find joy in tribulation. And that is why verse 5 is so important.
We must, must, must use self restraint. We must control our emotions and rely on the grace and mercy of God. We must endure our hardships - He will not forsake us, He will not give us more than we can handle and He will give us the strength we need, when we need it.
There is no giving up. We are Christian’s. We are children in the family of God. We must fulfill our ministry and we should all be doing the work of an evangelist!
There is no time to sit on our hands and to be the victim. We didn’t die on the cross, we have been saved from death. Christ is our savior.
Stop making excuses. Execute. Proceed. Do the work to glorify our God in heaven. Don’t let your circumstances, your location, your time or your mind stop you from what your heart and soul can accomplish for God.
And most of all, listen to the hard things, endure the hardships and put Jesus Christ at the center of absolutely everything in your life.
What Do You Want to Hear?
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:6-8