Itching Ears Look Different Than You Think

It's not just health and wealth

The phrase “itching ears” has such easy, obvious application in our day. Hordes of people sit at the feet of Osteen and Furtick and other health-and-wealth spreaders each week.

Those people are there to hear about God’s big plan for their lives… which curiously doesn’t ever seem to include tearful repentance and pious dedication.

But examples like those are so far gone they would barely be in the purview of what Paul had in mind in his letters to Timothy. Itching ears are a phenomenon which is not far from any of our hearts at a given moment.

Let’s take a look at the text which gives us our title:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 NKJV).

In the first article ever posted on this site I wrote on why “doctrine” means something much different, and much more, than what we usually mean. The doctrine Timothy was commanded to preach was not just about church matters and where denominational lines are drawn. It was focused on the practical things of daily life.

So, when he says people won’t endure sound doctrine, it’s less about a person’s refusal to tolerate it when we insist on a capella singing, though that could apply.

Instead, it most often shows up in the cases that hit closest to our own hearts.

For instance…

It’s like when a wife decides she wants the family to switch congregations after the preacher speaks Biblically against feminism.

Or when a defiant older person insists they bear no blame for the unfaithfulness of their children, and will not abide the preacher pointing out common parenting pitfalls they themselves walked right into.

Or when a younger person blames all of their problems on their predecessors, refusing to acknowledge that they themselves have some agency in their own shortcomings.

Or when a husband nods in hearty agreement when his wife’s bad habits are mentioned in a sermon but isn’t interested in hearing criticism of his own shortcomings.

Or when we let therapy world convince us all of our faults are because of our “trauma” and all of everybody else’s faults are because they are “toxic.”

The fact is, we’re all dangerously susceptible to a case of the itching ears if we’re not careful.

Basically, it’s the response to sound teaching that says “But I’m different” or “My case is an exception” or “You don’t understand.” It is the ability to imagine such loopholes in order to blow off clear Biblical teaching when it steps on one’s toes.

When the doctor presses up and down your arm to see if a bone is broken, you can tell he’s found it when the sharp pain causes you to recoil. Similarly, when a sermon or article on a particular sin causes anger and plugged ears, you can be sure a break has been discovered.

Itching ears, then, are just what naturally occurs when a damaged spot is found in an unrepentant heart.

If a person won’t tolerate sound teaching, they’ll find a teacher who tells them the opposite.

“Don’t listen to those negative guys—everything’s fine! Your sins and flaws aren’t your fault! Some of them probably aren’t even sins!”

To continue the metaphor, they’ll find a doctor who will press on their other arm and congratulate them on its healthiness. Doctors who are more concerned with comfort and feelings than health are not good doctors, though. Enduring sound doctrine means going to the doctor who will put us through just enough pain to set the break in place.

Perfection will never be a realistic goal for any of us, of course. What we want here are soft hearts which are open to God’s discipline and correction. I can amen all day long about the sins of the world, but it’s a lot harder to offer a sorrowful amen about the wickedness of my own sins.

However, I must determine to accept it, difficult though that may be. If I can’t love God’s Word even when it convicts me, I’m just another “lover of self” (2 Tim 3:2). But if I can love it even when it cuts me to the quick, God is faithful and will use my soft heart to my sanctification.

“O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm‬ ‭119‬:‭97‬ NASB95)

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