Turning Away from Truth

 Today's Reading:
Nehemiah 9:22-10:39
2 Timothy 4:1-22
Psalm 119:121-128 
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Focus Verses: 2 Timothy 4:3-5
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. 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.

Insight:
There is always someone ready to tell people whatever it is they want to hear. Truth, however, is often inconvenient. Because it makes demands and brings definition, truth is often rejected. It's not what people want to hear and is often swept aside in favor of something less rigorous and easier to accept. Truth is frequently replaced with speculative opinions, comfortable myths, and self-serving lies.

Response and Action:
I need to be honest and committed to seeking out truth. I must be ready to discover that the truth may be more difficult and demanding than I want it to be. I need to look beyond myself and my comfort zone if I intend to find truth. I must be prepared to make changes and put aside falsehood if I really want to know and live the truth.

I need to be careful to not just listen to the people who tell me what I want to hear. I need to be discerning and think critically about the things I read and hear. I need to examine my motives and my desires to ensure my beliefs are not being distorted by my own selfish perspectives. I need to fill my heart and mind with the truth of Scripture so it can be used by the Spirit to guide me in my thinking and discerning.

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and lead me, for you are God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Help me to seek the truth and surrender to it, that it might shape me and guide me. Save me from the self-deception that distorts and diminishes truth to make it fit personal comfort and convenience. Help me to know the truth, and grant me the freedom it gives. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Proverbs 17:24
24 A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

Resources:
Creation, Power and Truth: The Gospel in a World of Cultural Confusion
by N. T. Wright