Be Careful What You Hear
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4:3-4
When a friend in a spiritual context used the expression, “Your attitude is your altitude,” I knew something was wrong. Not because I’m smart; I’m not. Not because I’m wise; I’m a fool. Because I’ve learned to measure what I hear against God’s Word to see if it’s from Him. Only minutes before, I had mustered up the courage despite my great trepidation to obey the Lord and lovingly warn her about something I had done for years. I had worshiped Christianity, preachers, churches, Christian books, etc., and made idols of them; I had a relationship with them instead of God. Like my friend, I had quoted what I heard – whether or not it lined up with God’s Word. More often than not, it had not. I relied mostly on others to teach me God’s Word, and didn’t study enough on my own to discern whether I was hearing God’s Truth or Satan’s lies. I was easy prey for the devil. Frankly, I enjoyed the false teaching I heard because I had “itching ears.” It’s what I wanted to hear. It was easy, comfortable, and palatable. The false teaching was all about me and making my life better, easier, more pleasurable, and prosperous.
When my friend mentioned, “Your attitude is your altitude,” I sensed she had learned that a positive attitude means we have a higher altitude in life, and that a negative one means we are low to the ground. But the Bible is packed with references to the Lord commanding us to be humble and to stay clear of pride. He tells us continually we must LOWER ourselves, and the perfect role model is Christ. God doesn’t want us at a higher altitude. That’s pride. He wants us to bow down and humble ourselves before Him, to sit at His feet, to be lowly, to act as loving servants, to be filled with and led by His Spirit whereby we give ALL glory to God and take none of it for ourselves, to not lift ourselves up, but to bring ourselves down in love and adoration of Him with an attitude of joy and thanksgiving that the one to be exalted above all, to be lifted up, to reign, is the Lord.
The Greek word translated into worship includes in its definition per the concordance to lie prostrate before, yes, to lie down on the ground to worship God. Following Christ isn’t about feeling good and flying at a high altitude. It’s about loving God and bowing down before Him, loving and serving Him with all our hearts no matter the cost to our flesh. Be careful what you hear. Make sure it lines up with God’s Word.