2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when men 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.
So a few days ago I felt a deep sense of conviction. It was a really awful one that I couldn’t shake. I had a wrong attitude and God was telling me that I had a wrong attitude. It hurts for a couple reasons. First, it means I had to admit I was wrong. Second, it meant that I had to change. This conviction came through a prayerful reading of God’s word. Through the word, God told me that I was doing it wrong and that I needed to change.
You know he does that right? I once heard a message; someone speaking about the preached prophetic word and they said that any word from God is always encouraging. I beg to differ. In fact, from a good deal of experience, I know that God does not always encourage. Sometime he does as he did to Saul and he knocks me down and says “you need to change”. Sometimes he brings conviction and Godly sorrow.
Part of this conviction that I felt was the feeling like maybe I’m not really listening to God. You see I went to my bookshelf and I searched out books to support an opinion I had. I realized that my bookshelf was filled with books that agreed with me. I picked up the Bible thinking it would also agree with me and found that it did not. Well, actually it agreed with what I knew deep down in my heart, what the Spirit had taught me, just not how I was practicing it. I had itching ears.
I think far too often we can assume that God is on our side. We can be like Peter and focus on “What’s in it for me”. Yes, its true God is on our side, but we also need to be talking about how we can be on God’s side. Rarely in the Bible does being on God’s side mean continuing to do what is most comfortable to you and staying inside your comfort zone.
We can talk constantly about what God does for me. I hear people talk about the Church they attend and say that they attend because they like the preaching. So, why do you like the preaching? Does it make you feel comfortable? Does it make you laugh? Are you encouraged? Or does it correct you, Convict you, and rebuke you at times? Do you go away hearing the Bible (not necessarily the preacher’s words) and does that word from the Bible change you or do you go out that door the same as you came in.
Conviction is not a good policy for Church growth according to this text and it’s really not a good way to attract “seekers” to the faith. But this text reminds us that no matter what are preferences are the word preached or read or studied, will not just include encouraging words but also times of correction and rebuke. And yes, sometimes God will give you correction and rebuke and challenge that is difficult to handle.
We should welcome it. Hebrews 12 says that those who get correction are as sons of God because he disciplines us. He disciplines us and corrects us because he cares about us. Being convicted and changed by God is a painful thing at the time but ultimately God does it out of his love for us. Hebrews 12 says that discipline “produces a harvest of righteousness” and bring s peace to those who have been trained in it.
My conviction happened because I wasn’t willing to be convicted and changed. I like how I thought and acted, but it was not Godly. I could have gone to all my favourite teachers and authors who would tickle my ears with encouragement and words that tell me that God supports me no matter what, but I would not have heard that correction. Hebrews 12 also says that those who do not receive correction and rebuke are “Illigimate Children”.
This is a hard word. That if your god says only things that support you and are in agreement with what you already believe, then that God is clearly not the God of the Bible. I would challenge you, if you never hear a word of change or challenge to start reading the Bible and stop listening to those who tickle your ears and tell you what you want to hear.
But always remember this. As children of God, he disciplines you, changes you, challenges you, calls you to go out with his truth, gives you difficult tasks, but he also gives you the ultimate encouragement when he says in Matthew 28 “and I am with you always to the end of the age”.