October 05, 2026 | Be Connected
Are You Telling Me the Truth or Telling Me What I Want to Hear?
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-5(NIV)
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Devotional
How can you recognize false teachers who draw you away from the truth? In Paul’s letter to Timothy, one key warning sign is this: they tell you what you want to hear. Few things are more appealing than a message that matches the desires of your heart. Satan has used this tactic since the beginning of humanity.
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. Genesis 3:4-6.
Satan told Eve what she wanted to hear. What we want to hear reveals what we want to have, or what we want to be. All our sinful acts begin with sinful desires; two simple words: “I want.” In Eve’s case, it was “I want to be like God.” However, the false teacher cannot get you to act on sin without one essential additional temptation: rationalization. Rationalizations come in many forms:
It is not that bad.
Other people are doing worse things.
Everyone else is doing it.
I will only do it once.
I will not get caught.
I deserve it.
Or the worse version, “They deserve it.”
“You will not certainly die.”
Like Eve, when people hear what they want to hear, they accept it unquestionably, unreservedly. It strips them of critical thinking and critical examination. It becomes more pronounced when like-minded people coalesce together in an “echo chamber” and only reinforce each other’s thoughts.
So how do we know the good teacher? Paul gives us guidance here as well. A good teacher will challenge us. That teacher will “[p]reach the word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” The first guidance is the most important: Preach the Word; follow a teacher who is grounded in Scripture. The other attributes are important: a teacher who corrects in a loving manner and who shows love and patience with those they teach.
The teachers and mentors I remember best were the ones who challenged me to be better, who caused me to question my beliefs and opinions. Sometimes that resulted in a change of heart or sometimes it served to reinforce what I already believed.
Think about the impact teachers have on your life. More importantly, ask yourself: who am I teaching? What am I teaching?
