Spiritual Discernment – Webster’s 1828 dictionary states that discernment is the ability to distinguish the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood. To live rightly as a Christ follower, one must have discernment. It aids us, among other things, to avoid the hollow and deceptive philosophies of the world, which brings me to the inspiration for this article - Email hoaxes.
Nearly every week I receive at least one email hoax. They are passed on by well meaning people, following the embedded instructions “to send this to everybody on your eSmail lists.” If you're reading this there's no doubt you’ve gotten a few of these yourself. Maybe you’ve even forwarded some of these hoaxes, not realizing what they are. They run the gamut of false stories of kidnapped children to the threat of losing political freedoms to Christian persecution, and everything in between. The latest one I received was about “Buddhist extremists… killing Christians in India.” Generally the hoaxes contain a thread of truth and have already been forwarded several times. As in this case, the truth is there is much Christian persecution in India for which we need to be praying. But the fact that Almighty God can use our misguided prayers for the good of others and His glory does not let us off the hook for being responsible for perpetuating the schemes of the father of lies.
The legalist in us tends to bow to the strong insinuation that “you’re not much of a Christian if you won’t respond to this urgent plea.” Another email scam involves variations of the Nigerian letter scam. Key content includes: someone from a third world country has inherited a large sum of money, they have contracted a terminal illness, they need to get the money out of the country before they die, they want to use it for a noble purpose, and they have chosen you because of your worthy character to help – Their agenda, to prey on your Christian virtues and steal your money.
An associate of mine actually lost thousands of dollars recently to one of these scam artists who was posing as one of her colleagues. In her case she was vulnerable because of the goodness and generosity of her heart. Fortunately, for most of us the penalty paid for our lack of discernment is some minor embarrassment…not thousands of dollars. But, why harp on it if the penalty is so minor…well is it really minor…or is it a symptom of a greater problem in the Kingdom of God?
The other reason these hoaxes are successful in capturing people’s attention is because they create a sense of urgency. However, the real urgency is for the people of God to exercise wisdom and discernment. John Calvin said it this way, “We are intoxicated with a false opinion of our own discernment…” In other words most people don’t even stop to consider their ability to spiritually discern things properly. But, as long as the world is ruled by the prince of this world - Satan (John 12:31) – we are in desperate need of the ability to judge right from wrong, good from evil.
Make no mistake about it, one of the primary ways in which Satan rules the world is through an elaborate system of lies. When we lack discernment, we run the risk of becoming entangled in and perpetuating his sticky system of deception. Thankfully, Jesus came specifically to testify to the truth (John 18:37). This is why Satan’s number 1 strategy is to take the truth, add his clever spin to it, thereby corrupting it and creating the hollow and deceptive philosophies of the world (Colossians 2). But, the truth is the Christian’s weapon of mass destruction (John 17:17, Hebrews 4:12) that slices through and demolishes the Enemy’s strongholds, shrouded in fine sounding arguments, which he uses in an attempt to take us captive.
Christian, we are often blind sided by Satan’s deception because the attack is often launched from domestic territories within the Church of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:7, 2 Corinthians 11:4). The Devil and his minions can breach our walls through our lack of discernment: not taking our doctrine seriously, refusal to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10) and choosing to walk in all His ways (Deuteronomy 5:33). Jesus said know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). The truth is the fulcrum of discernment and godly living.
Discernment begins, like wisdom, with the fear of the Lord. John Calvin wrote that spiritual discernment “consists chiefly of three things - the knowledge of God, the knowledge of his paternal favour towards us, which constitutes our salvation, and the method of regulating of our conduct in accordance with the Divine Law.” If you are stirred to become more spiritually discerning; to better distinguish the truth from falsehood; I highly recommend a DVD series called The Truth Project put out by Focus on the Family.
You can also begin immediately to hone your spiritual discernment by asking yourself the following questions…
- Are your every day choices based purely on Biblical truth?
- Does every area of your life display the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
- When making decisions, do you ask “What does the Bible say about that?”
- Do you take your thoughts (every one of them) captive?
- Do you allow lies and negative thoughts to circulate in your brain unchecked?
- Do you use Biblical principles to guide your decision making?
- Do you seek godly counsel when making decisions?
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