I know you will think I am crazy here, but there are very few pleasures greater in this world than scratching something that is seriously itchy. It just feels SO good. But give in to that itch and you will pay the consequences.
I have had poison ivy seven times in my life. Those experiences are still nightmares to me. I remember my mom telling me, “Don’t itch after I put on the cream.” But as each second passed by, the more itchy it became. Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore. I started itching and I simply didn't care and oh how good and relieving it felt. I scratched and scratched and scratched. About 30 minutes later, what were merely a few rash patches, suddenly burst out into tiny to medium sized bubble-blisters all over my body, between my fingers and my toes, on my face, etc. I had one gigantic purple bubble grow in between my fingers. It was horrible. I was the bubble man, in terrible pain, and with even more itches. Only by not itching would I ever be free of that dreadful condition.
This is why Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2:
I have had poison ivy seven times in my life. Those experiences are still nightmares to me. I remember my mom telling me, “Don’t itch after I put on the cream.” But as each second passed by, the more itchy it became. Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore. I started itching and I simply didn't care and oh how good and relieving it felt. I scratched and scratched and scratched. About 30 minutes later, what were merely a few rash patches, suddenly burst out into tiny to medium sized bubble-blisters all over my body, between my fingers and my toes, on my face, etc. I had one gigantic purple bubble grow in between my fingers. It was horrible. I was the bubble man, in terrible pain, and with even more itches. Only by not itching would I ever be free of that dreadful condition.
This is why Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
The time is now. People want to be itched to suit "their passions." Forget about God's Word and its implications, it is simply, "What do I feel is right for me?" This question is far more compelling and when the itch itches, scratching is just too pleasurable, too fulfilling, too right NOT to itch. Sound teaching is great, but it can't get in the way of itches. But as Paul notes, should the sound teaching, God's Word, the gospel get in the way of my passionate itching, then maybe it is time to move on and find another teacher who will do that itching for me.