The itch to hear what you want to hear
One of the most difficult things I think that we as human beings are faced with is trying to discern what is fact from fiction. When it comes to what we read or listen to, we have a tendency to gravitate toward information that is going to align with how we feel or think about a subject. Rarely will we take the time to read about or listen to someone who does not think the same way. What happens is that we lack understanding, we fail to see things from another’s point of view, and we develop an insular view of life that only accommodates what we already perceive to be true. If this is the case, then what if what you think or believe is wrong?
We function in a culture that says “to each their own.” We tolerate the thoughts and beliefs of others as long as they don’t intend to change ours. King Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived, wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” What if you thought that what you thought and believed was right, “but in the end” you found out that you were wrong? The crazy thing about this life is that you only get one. Just because someone tells you that reincarnation occurs does not mean that it is real. If your government tells you that something is legal and permissible, it does not necessarily mean that it is right.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up.” So you may believe that something is OK, but that doesn’t mean that it’s right. Your government may say that it is OK, but what if it isn’t? What if it is permissible but not beneficial? We may be happy that it is permissible, but it still does not make it beneficial.
Case in point: you may feel like having an affair. The government does not have a law against someone having an affair, but is it beneficial? What are the repercussions of someone having an affair? Your spouse may leave you. Your children are hurt by the way you betrayed your spouse and them. They don’t trust you. Even the person you are having an affair with, if you marry them, will not trust you because you were untrustworthy when you were with them. It is ugly. Permissible, but not beneficial.
Back to what we think and what we believe, the Apostle Paul wrote to his protege Timothy, “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
We need to be careful that we don’t listen only to the voices that verify what we believe to be true, but we need to be willing to hear others who claim to understand what is true and discern what is right. I would hate to spend my whole life working toward something that did not lead to life, but instead, lead to death.
When referring to life, I am talking about eternal life. When I am talking about death, I am talking about eternal separation from God. You may not believe that there is a God, but that doesn’t make what you believe true if there really is one. Seek to discern the truth. It will set you free.