Discernment
Discernment gets scant attention from many today. Pity that! What’s worse is that discernment is often discouraged in some quarters. Those bent on self-gratification, the forces of political correctness, confirmed political partisans and their kind all find that discernment presents them with truth they would rather avoid.
In case discernment has escaped your attention, it is simply the ability to grasp and understand that which is not superficially obvious. It is necessary to get into the significance of things that lie beneath the popular “truth” which is typically based on feelings.
A sweeping example applicable to many, though not all, cultures is the belief that all humans have an essential value regardless of age, intellectual capability, physical endowments, skill sets, ambition and so on. While we might not feel the same about everyone, we have the same basic level of respect for all, in their humanity. We grasp this at a fundamental level and agree to behave according to this understanding, in part, because we’ve seen social experiments where the weak and the different and those deemed “unworthy” were committed to the gas chambers and we don’t want to go there.
A more homely example comes in the family where wise parents discern the strengths and personality differences of their children. For the good of the children, both individually and the family as a whole, the parents attempt to be fair. Sometimes this involves treating the kids equally, sometimes not. To insist that the athletic child, the musical child, the verbal child and the kinetic child all be forced to take music lessons, or join hockey teams, or participate in the chess club, would be unfair, though equal. Each needs to be encouraged to overcome or compensate for his or her weaknesses while enjoying and developing his or her strengths.
The downside is that discernment takes time and requires wisdom, two things that seem to be in short supply. We need a quick answer and it needs to look good. Never mind if it’s not the right answer, as long as we can implement it quickly and defend it with a superficial rationale that most people can be bullied into accepting.
If your life isn’t working out too well, or even making a lot of sense, perhaps it’s because you’ve not put discernment to work. Maybe, you’re just looking at things superficially and readily agreeing with what you’re being told about the way things are by people who have a vested interest in a particular point of view.
The Bible repeatedly encourages people to exercise discernment. Here are a few instances to help you see just how important it is.
In Matthew 16:2-3, Jesus criticized the religious leaders for being able to discern the next day’s weather by looking at the evening sky, but not being able to discern more important things. Jesus used the expression “the signs of the times” referring to the cultural and spiritual realities in which they were living and the significance of both. This is important for us, too. We often just accept what our social leaders tell us without thinking. Let me give you an example of this: We’ve already mentioned that we believe that all persons are of equal value. Many leaders in our culture try to extend this to make it include ideas, that is, all ideas are of equal value. This is an absurdity. Often ideas are in complete opposition. They cannot be equally true. If they are not equally true, they cannot be of equal value. We need to respect all individuals, but we do not need to respect all ideas equally. We need to evaluate them, discern the true, keep what is good and throw out the garbage.
In Philippians 1:9-10, Paul wrote to his friends that he was praying that their love would grow more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that they may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless throughout their natural lives. Here, he points out that in the area of morality, discernment is especially needed. People routinely act as if the pursuit of pleasure is the benchmark of morality. God says purity and blamelessness are more important. You need to go beneath the surface values the media feeds you to find what is truly moral. You need discernment.
Two quotations from the book of Hebrews, while not adjacent, go together to stress the importance of the Bible in exercising discernment. Chapter 4, verse12 says: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two–edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Bible helps us discern our own motivations, which so often elude us. Chapter 5, verse 14 tells us that solid biblical doctrine is a characteristic of maturity and that, through the application of biblical truth to the circumstances of life, our senses are exercised to discern both good and evil. Here again, we are looking at discerning morality, with the understanding that it must be based on God’s standards which we find in God’s Word.
Lastly, for today, in 1 Corinthians 2:14, we read that those who don’t believe in God and accept His authority do not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to them. More than that, it is impossible for these people to know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. In other words, you have to accept God’s authority before you can understand and appreciate His standards. Don’t be alarmed by this. You have to accept the authority of the national justice system, before you will attempt to keep civil law. You have to accept the authority of your employer, before you will conform to his or her standards. This is just common sense.
So just what are you “believing” or “accepting” in order to gain this spiritual discernment which Paul talks about here? Principally, the following:
1. Accept that you are already in contravention of God’s law. You are not keeping His standards.
2. Accept that this puts you under judgment. Since God has ultimate authority, that means death.
3. Accept that there is nothing you can do to change this. It remains an uncomfortable fact.
4. Accept that Jesus, stepped in and took your punishment in your place. He died for you.
5. Accept that because of this, God gives you new life and receives you as His child, giving you His Spirit, who is the source of that spiritual discernment we’ve been talking about.
So, if your life has turned out to be a big disappointment so far, perhaps it’s because you need to start with this. If you want to change where you end up, you’ll have to change your direction.
