desire – CadreMen Press

Itching Ears

“Itching Ears” By Kirk Hunt

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

If you are like me, you hate to be wrong. Prayerfully, you are also like me, and you sincerely desire the discomfort of real truth over the illusion of fables or myths. The lust for lies over truth is called “itching ears” by the Apostle Paul.

Human beings prefer to glide from win to win, with nary an uncomfortable factoid to be seen or felt. God’s people, followers of Jesus Christ, are constantly being battered by inconvenient and even distasteful things like facts, data and Real Truth™. Last I checked, all of God’s people are also human beings, therefore you may be vulnerable to itching ears.

The unredeemed may be misled. After all, they do not have God’s power or the Holy Spirit to guide them toward truth or away from error. God’s people do not have that excuse.

God gives wisdom to those who ask it of Him. You do ask for wisdom, do you not? In order to ask for Godly wisdom, you must first turn your own desires toward the things of God.

What do you allow yourself to want? Do you sincerely seek God’s truth or justification for your lustful urges? Are your ears itching?

Think: I should direct my desires to God’s truth, no matter how my ears itch for something else.

Pray: “Lord, give me Your wisdom and truth, no matter what.”

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Their Own Desires

“Their Own Desires” By Kirk Hunt

2 Timothy 4:3-4 NKJV

The classic strategy of a swindler is to promise “something for nothing.” The desires and lusts betray the “victim” more powerfully than the confidence man or woman. Unfortunately, this applies to God’s people as much as anyone else.

If you want anything more than God, it is a lust. If you want something enough to alter or deliberately misinterpret God’s Word, it is a lust. The desires for control, ego or status can be lusts, just like money, sex or power.

And there is always someone out there who will tell you what you want to hear. False teachers (read: con artists) will gear their lessons to the biggest paychecks, not your well-being or Godliness. Local or national, near or far, the false teachers we heap up for ourselves preach false stories that lead to destruction.

Why do you want what you want? What does the Bible say about what you want? What does the Bible say about how you are working to get what you want? The honest answers to these questions will tell you what you need to know about your desires.

Read and study the Bible yourself. Compare every “teacher” you hear to the Bible, our one true source. Do not let your own desires lead you astray.

Think: My own desires and lusts will lead me astray, if I let them.

Pray: “Lord, help me keep my desires on You.”

Freedom From Want

“Freedom From Want” By Kirk Hunt

And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

1 Timothy 6:8–9 NKJV
Please read 1 Timothy 6:3–10

You must breathe oxygen to survive. The newest ultra-high definition television is far less critical to your continuing existence. You can never be free from need, but you can be free from want. And Scripture commands you to avoid lust.

A want is always optional and not crucial to your (immediate) survival. Want, carried too far, is lust. Lust is an excessive desire for sex, money, power, adoration or anything else. God Himself should be the chief and only real desire of your heart, mind and soul.

Paul wanted Timothy to avoid falling into error. He cautioned his young protégée against allowing lust to nest in his heart or mind. What was true then remains true now. Avoid the siren songs that call us away from God and toward the rocks of unbridled hungers.

Men and women need food, clothing, shelter and fellowship. Nor is there sin in having more than the bare minimum for survival. However, past the point of needs, wants too quickly turn into lusts.

Consider the things you intensely want. Does your desire for them control you? Please, do not give up your freedom for wants.

Think: Do I control my wants, or do they control me?

Pray: “Lord, help me to be free from my wants, except for You.”

Worship Anyway

“Worship Anyway” By Kirk Hunt

And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.

Mark 14:3 NKJV

Please read one (or all) of the Gospel accounts:
Matthew 26: 6–13; Mark 14: 3–9; Luke 7: 36–50; John 12: 1–8.

Even today, an alabaster box (for perfume) is costly and uncommon. Spikenard, which grows only in the Himalayas of Nepal, remains rare and expensive. Mary spent over a year’s wages to worship.

The whispering Pharisees used her past to slander Jesus. Jesus’ Disciples complained about the “wasteful” expression of her worship. Given a say, it appears that Pharisee and Disciple would have denied her the opportunity to worship. Despite them, or their intentions, Mary worshiped anyway.

The Bible does not confirm that Mary was a prostitute. Scripture states she had been demon-possessed and a notorious sinner. Mary did not let her past, or the murmuring busybodies, keep her from Jesus.

You have an opportunity to worship today. Will you pay the price? Will you walk past your history or circumstances and worship God? Are you willing to ignore the whispers from without, or within, to worship Jesus?

Whatever it costs, He is worthy. No matter what others do or say, Jesus is available to you. No matter what has happened before, He waits for you.

The voices are noise and distraction. If you want to, you can worship. Everything else is just details.

Think: I can worship Jesus, if I am determined.

Pray: “Lord, I worship You, because You are worthy.”

This devotional is a ministry of http://devotionals.cadremenpress.com.