ITCHING EARS

An ancient Hebrew prayer says, "From the conscience that shrinks from new truth, from the laziness that is content with half truths, from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, O God of truth deliver us." We can’t stand the truth, so we heap for ourselves people to tell us what we want to hear. We read and cite works that agree with our prejudices. And we choose friends, politicians, and preachers to tickle us with versions we resonate with. The Good Book describes us in our self-deception: Because of our “own desires” and “itching ears” we willfully “turn our ears away from the truth to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3, 4). Truth still matters. May the God of truth deliver us from our itching ears!—Samuel Koranteng-Pipim