Discernment: A Mark of a Maturing Christian

"God demands and expects maturity, and maturity is inseparable from discernment. A Christian cannot have one without the other." -Tim Challies

I have been thinking lately a lot about maturity, and more importantly how it is reflected in one's life spiritually; and what I have come to find is that the Bible has a lot to say about maturity in the Christian life. Maturity in the Christian life is often looked upon as "arrogance", or maybe only for those "fanatical" Christians: especially by the thousands upon thousands who tag themselves with the name "Christian" but never open their Bibles. However let's examine a passage in Scripture written to a group of people who claimed to be "Christians" and see what we find: Hebrews 5:12-14 says, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. " There is a warning to the reader's of this letter, a warning of apostasy and straying from the faith, but notice that the reason for the warning is their lack of maturity. Stop for a moment and ask yourself what your perception of maturity is, more specifically spiritual maturity? Would you call yourself a maturing Christian?

One of the keys to maturity in the Christian life is wisdom/discernment; I chose not to dichotimize the two because you cannot have one without the other, they go hand in hand. Many people think that discernment is only for the "elite" Christians, or maybe only for those Christians who have the spiritual "gift" of discernment, but Scripture teaches something very different. In fact God values discernment and rewards those who diligently pursue it. Look to Solomon's example for a moment and you are quick to see just how valuable discernment/wisdom is. In 1 Kings 3:6-9 we read of Solomon's prayer for wisdom, what he wanted more specifically was the ability to discern between good and evil within the kingdom. God answered that prayer and gave him both wisdom and discernment and he is well-known as one of if not the wisest men to ever walk this earth. There is no such thing as an immature Christian who is discerning...you will be mature if you excercise discernment. What is scarier is the fact that a lack of discernment reveals spiritual immaturity, backsliding, and even the spiritually dead, therefore we must examine how well we are doing in the area of discernment.

If there is anything worth protecting it is the "purity of the Gospel" and it is only through discernment (wisdom) that this can be done. Tim Challies in his book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment we read about how Timothy was given the job of guarding the Gospel. He was to find godly Christians with whom he could in turn entrust it to. We must remember that without discernment and therefore without maturity in the Christian life, the GOSPEL IS AT SAKE!! "It is the responsibility of each Christian to heed and to answer the call and so to guard the deposit God has entrusted to us".

Wait, you might be saying, what is discernment really anyways? There are a handful of definitions I could ramble off and that every "Christian" could recite to me, but we must get to the heart of the Word of God to find the true understanding of the word. First we must realize that Truth is God and His Word and all things must be measured to that to see clearly. Knowing things is not an end, but rather the ability to better know and understand God and it begins with God. We must realize the HUGE grand canyon so to speak between God and us in light of His holiness and wisdom/knowledge. According to Challies, "wisdom is attained and enhanced as we think deeply and humbly about how we are to serve God". So what's the difference then between wisdom and discernment? Challies I think put it well, "A wise man will know that there are times when a person needs to be answered and there are times when it is better to remain silent. A discerning man, though, wil know WHEN he should give an answer and when he should know better". Is it starting to click yet? Discernment then is the application of wisdom to real life. After a careful study of the Hebrew and Greek this definition was put forth, "Discernment is the skill of understanding and applying God's Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong".

Discernment takes work! It is not something that some people just naturally have. And the more that we study the TRUTH and know TRUTH the more we will gain discernment. On a side-note, knowledge in and of itself does not determine discernment, one can be knowledgeable yet foolish. John 17:17 say, "your Word is truth" which means that we need to be in the word to not only be growing and maturing but to be gaining this discernment. Discernment allows us to see with God's eyes so to speak. "People who are discerning have a heightened ability to see and understand issues from God's perspectives".

The problem with discernment is that you are going to face challenges! "A person who seeks to be discerning must be willing to suffer the effects of this division. It will divide not only believer from unbeliever, but it may even divide a discerning believer from one who is undiscerning. It will separate the mature from the immature, the naive from the prudent". We must acknowledge that the only reason we will be able to make any progress in the Christian life is through the grace of God. You might be saying, I want to mature...I want to gain discernment so I may please the Lord more, make better choices etc. but how? We first have to recognize our enemies:

-THE FIRST ENEMY keeping us from maturing and gaining discernment is ourselves! Did you know that you, yes YOU are your own worse enemy? Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that our heart is "wicked and deceitful". But through the grace of the Father and the working of the Spirit you can fight the flesh that wages war as you feast on Truth and renew your mind.

-Satan wants to lead us astray too. He wants to offer us things that seem to resemble the truth but in reality are nothing near...it is a counterfeit, a cheat! "Satan is fully committed to our downfall and keeping us confused". Again we can battle the enemy with the Truth, the Word (put on the armor of the Lord--Eph 6).

-The culture around us doesn't help us at all either in this pursuit. We live in a fallen world that is completely and totally opposed to God in every way! The worldview that most all possess, even those claiming relation with the Savior, is rooted in sinfulness. "Discernment itself is rooted in the understanding that there is good and bad, that there are God's ways and other ways". We need to think Christianly. The culture and even many Christians also have a low view of Scripture, an incorrect and unbiblical one. "The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior is measured". Do you believe the Bible is sufficient for what ALL you need for life and godliness. We must remember we can only judge what is right and wrong from Truth and the only truth we have is the Word. And here is a place where I may raise a little strife, and that is having a low view of theology. Theology seems to be only for the "fundamentalists" and people who are theologically "sound" are known as arrogant. However if we look at what theology really menas "SPEAKING OF GOD", we need to realize that God is very concerned with all of His kids being theologians. "Many Christians have separated theology from practice, knowledge of God from their practice of serving him. Some Christians even delight in ignorance, claiming that they don't want theology; they just want to love jesus. These people tend to build faith upon feelins and experience rather than upon the truths of the Bible". And many Christians don't understand the holiness of God. We are to seek hard after that same holiness.

We must realize that "because discernment is a good and noble pursuit, it is one that has been opposed on all fronts". Some people may be thinking at this point that discernment seems so "logical" and not really involving my "close relationship" with God but we need to understand that Biblicallys peaking it is logical...it points to the truths of Scripture. John MacArthur says this, "Biblical faith..is rational. It is reasonable. It is intelligent. It makes good sense. And spiritual truth is meant to be rationally contemplated, examined logicaly, studied, analyzed, and employed as the only reliable basis for making wise judgments." WE USE OUR MINDS! Emotions are not a bad thing but they must come in response to Truth not the other way around.

So you may have skipped everything I said above about discernment or if you endured through I hope you were encouraged because discernment takes work! If we are going to mature in the Christian walk we are going to have to work hard. I love how Paul equates the Christian life with an athlete running a race because as anyone who has ever trained for a marathon knows, it takes hours and hours of traning, mental preparation and practice to compete, and winning well that takes even more. As Christians our desire should be to mature. We are not living for the here and now but rather the eternal and we have the privilege of growing in the wisdom of the King of Kings. If we truly pursue maturity (wisdom/discernment) and are responsible with the Truth we have been given (the Word in its entirety, spiritual books, leaders, etc) we will mature and more adequately reflect Christ and bring God more glory. For that is the chief aim of man, to glorify God, and maturing enables Him to be glorified even more!


(I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TIM CHALLIES BOOK The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment)