2 timothy 4:3 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;

A subtle little point here is the issue of the listener who heard sound doctrine, but turned away from that soundness. Hearing is not believing. Hearing is not doing. Sooner or later those who fail to believe, because they have heard the truth, turn to hear those who will not offend them. They will give vast amounts of support to anyone who will make them feel good about themselves. While they appear to get what they want, the end is the same, they are used for sinful purposes.

No one likes to think they are used. But the truth is we are all used. I am used of God to serve His will. I don’t mind, I prefer that to the alternative. People are used for less than sinister designs, but if God’s will is not being served, then who’s?

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Mammon literally means anything you treasure that is not God. Jesus spoke to this in verse 21 identifying the treasures of the heart. It does not have to be money but money is a common theme when we look at how men use followers with itchy ears. Those men need money to spread the false doctrine. It is self-serving but masked in a cloak of false doctrine. They call it seed money, faith offering, tenfold blessing and use the scriptures to twist false doctrine in itching ears to use the listener.

Deuteronomy 28:27d with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

Wounds never heal by scratching the itch.

1 Corinthians 5:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Do you know what all is? I do not. I only know in part, and in that I am not perfect. While I strive to love, I do not perform that perfectly. While I strive for grace, I do not perform that perfectly. While I strive to be wise, I do not do that perfectly.

Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

How does God balance all that He is in quality and character so that every aspect of who God is perfect and in balance? How does He balance being just and merciful perfectly at the same time? As much as I would like to be in balance in all that I am, no part of me is perfect in performance, much less in balance.

Consider that God’s understanding of who we are is perfect. Jesus encourages imperfection to be perfect. Is that possible? Would a gracious God ask of us that which is impossible? Consider that He is perfectly gracious and perfectly sovereign. How can He reconcile those two things?

Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

As much as it lies within you is the first qualifier, meaning that it is possible or within your ability. Perfect is the highest state of achievement within the realm of one’s ability. Being a new creature in Christ means growth does not happen all at once, but in stages. You learn to stand, then walk, then run.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

You get to be perfect in transformance only after you have first become good and then acceptable in that stage of growth. Then you change because you have grown and are capable of more which means your potential is greater and perfection is still within your grasp, but not instantly.

In the end, when Jesus Himself becomes subject to the Father, we who are in Him, will all be perfectly in balance of all the quality and character of God who will be ALL in ALL.