Wednesday, August 30, 2023

THE NEED FOR DISCERNMENT

 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

                We live in a world of trends and fads and “influencers.” Whatever is the latest thing to come along is assumed to be the best thing. So much of our lives are shaped by the so-called trend setters that we often don’t every see it. We just follow along blindly, accepting whatever is given to us as the latest thing.

                In some areas of life, this is relatively harmless. Fashion trends come and go, and really don’t make a lasting impact on our lives. But subtly, under the surface, is a movement that is leading us into deeper waters. Technology is an example of how trends can shape us. There are two “hidden” agendas of technology that are masked by the hype of the newest and the best. The first is the idea that whatever we have now is not good enough. I have to have the newest iPhone or my life isn’t fulfilled. This is fostering a consumer mentality that is great for industry, but can be devastating to the financial well-being of individuals. 

            The greater threat, as I see it, is our increased dependence upon technology. Technology is a great tool and a diabolical master. The more dependent we are on technology the less we develop our skills of thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. We don’t have to learn things any more, we can just Google them. With the rise of AI, we face even a greater threat to our intellectual health. AI can write our research papers and deal with our correspondence without us having to put much effort into the process. I point out technology not as the ultimate evil, but as an example of how we are losing our ability to think for ourselves.

                In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he prays a powerful prayer for them that applies to us today. At the heart of Paul’s prayer is a request for discernment so that we can see what is best. The foundation of discernment is a growing love for God and others that results in greater and greater knowledge and understanding. The love that Paul refers to is not self-love, but an outward focused love that looks beyond the boundaries of our small, personal universe. The more that we know and love God, the more our insight into life is deepened and expanded. Through the lens of God’s wisdom, we can see things as they really are and not be fooled by a flashy façade.

                Paul says that the outcome of this growing love for God is genuine discernment. It helps us to see things more clearly so that we can distinguish between the good, the better, and the best. Often, we forfeit the best by settling for the good. Paul challenges us to seek the best, to have our lives purified so that we can become more and more like Christ. As Paul said in Romans 12:2, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Godly discernment allows us to be transformed in our mind so that we think and act differently from the world around us.

                The goal of discernment is for us to be filled with the fruit of righteousness in Christ Jesus. When we purchased our home, we inherited a number of fruit trees. The first couple of years we lived in our home the fruit trees did not produce much fruit. But the more I have learned about caring for fruit trees, the quality and amount of the fruit that they produced has increased. This year I had the best harvest of peaches I have ever had. The ability to discern what is best in life is like learning to care for my fruit trees. The more we see things from God’s perspective, the more spiritual fruit we will produce. It will look like a transformed, more loving character. It will also look like better relationships and a  greater, positive influence within those relationships.

                Through the years I have heard it said that Christians are mindless. They just blindly follow along with whatever the church tells them. In fact, one of our former Presidents actually called Christians ignorant. As I look around at our society today, what I see is a mindless population who just follows along with whatever the latest trend-setters tell them, without thinking things through for themselves. Whoever has the loudest voice, the biggest platform, or the most popularity wins the day. As followers of Jesus, we cannot afford to be mindless. We need to pray, with Paul, for godly discernment, so that we can see what is best, and then passionately pursue it to the glory of God.

The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.
Proverbs 14:6 (NIV)

The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.
Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)

 

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