Itching Ears

a poem about truth and lies

Your ears, they itch

Self centeredness oozing,

And passions compacting,

Unable to hear the Truth,

You long for myths

You long for soothing

Words and phrases.

That sound spiritual

And lovely

That will help me

Fix me

Be all about me

Yes, the world has much to say

And yet all it says is:

Me, me, me!

But let our example be

Jesus, who prayed

In John 17

For a church

That lives in unity

For Him, Him, Him,

To replace 

Mine, mine, mine 

For the fruit of the Spirit

To overflow in our lives. 

Dear preacher,

You were not charged

To preach a word

Without contrition

That turns the crowd

In on itself

Into perpetual introspection.

Or helps them try to manage

Their sinful passions,

As if our willpower

Is any match

For the nature of Adam.

As you trade truth

For a shade of godless charity

And give to the greedy

The false gospel of prosperity.

And to the lustful

You preach a twisted liberty.

You say “grace abounds,” 

But you mean “anything goes”

And sentence your listeners to die

In their woes 

In their sins. 

For those swallowed up

In their selfishness

There is 

Me, me, me

In every verse and psalm

But never the Savior’s balm

Of Truth that changes

And Love that rearranges

The trajectory of our life

From darkness to light

Not just justified

But satisfied

To be set apart

And surrendered to Jesus Christ. 

Instead, false teacher,

You hand out alliterative lies

Sugar-coated with pride.

No one can be saved,

By your false christ. 

You, dear pastor,

You were charged 

To preach THE Word

That satisfies and saves

And it begins with repentance

Is bathed in truth

And awash with love

The gospel that heals

Those oozing, itching ears

And invites the wanderer 

To surrender their passions

To follow Jesus

On the narrow path. 

Dear listener,

I exhort you,

Interrogate that speaker’s fruit! 

Because if you don’t know 

The voice of God

If you don’t dig deep roots

–Into His Word

His character

His sovereign rule–

Then every wolf 

Who hides in wool

Will sound like a shepherd, 

As he directs you 

Back to self

As he mishandles the Word

And drags you to hell. 

But His sheep will know the voice

Of the Word, become flesh.

Of the Shepherd

Whose ministry began:

Repent! 

For the Kingdom of heaven is at hand! 

He held obedience and compassion

He gave Love and Truth,

Never did Jesus divide the two.

He dined with the sinners

Prostitutes and tax collectors

And He called them out of darkness

Into His marvelous light

Where there is forgiveness 

Redemption 

Transformation

And everlasting Life.