The dictionary defines discernment as “keen insight” or “good judgment.” The Bible usually uses the word when describing the ability to tell right from wrong or truth from lies. In Deuteronomy 32:28, an entire nation is described as being “without sense” because they don’t have the discernment to make good choices about right and wrong or good and evil.
People without discernment are the most likely to believe lies about the spiritual world. They’re the ones who either swallow every idea and experience that comes along or reject God because He can’t be experienced with their senses. You and I need discernment to figure out the truth about spiritual things.
Where do you get that kind of discernment? Well, we know from the Bible that God gives discernment, because He gave it to both David and his son Solomon (1 Kings 3:11-12; 2 Chronicles 2:12). So it makes sense to start by asking God to give you the discernment to tell truth from lies about spiritual things. That’s what David did (Psalm 119:125).
But discernment is kind of like athletic ability. If you don’t use it, you could lose it. If you let your discernment muscle get flabby, it won’t be there when you need it most. Job wrote that God can take away the discernment of those who once had it (Job 12:20). And a man of great discernment, Solomon, wrote that you have to work to hold on to it: “Preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight” (Proverbs 3:21).
But what can you do to build up that discernment muscle? How can you work out to become stronger in the area of discernment about spiritual things? You have to practice.
Discern Like the Bereans
During his travels, Paul found a group of people who were excellent at practicing discernment. Read what Acts 17:11-12 says about the Christians in the town of Berea: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.”
Did you catch the Bereans’ attitude toward new information? First, they were eager, or open-minded, to learn the truth. They weren’t closed to ideas they didn’t understand. They didn’t run from new experiences or concepts that were uncomfortable. They wanted to hear what Paul had to say about God; they wanted to grow in their knowledge of the spiritual.
From that, we learn that practicing discernment starts with listening and learning. What, exactly, does someone want you to believe about the spiritual? What are the details of what your friend experienced? What exactly is that TV show or scary movie suggesting about the world beyond our senses? If you had a strange experience, what can you say happened—for sure? Discernment starts with taking the time to get the facts straight.
Next, the Bereans were eager to learn the truth. They didn’t stop with the facts; they wanted to understand the meaning behind the facts so they could live their lives according to the truth. They didn’t settle for making big assumptions about what was being presented to them.
Finally, this muscular group of discerners didn’t simply take what Paul said at face value. They didn’t just flip around the TV dial of their day, drinking in every new idea and accepting it as truth. Instead, they compared everything Paul taught them with the truth of Scripture to make sure it was true. The Bereans understood that God’s Word was the standard for all truth. If an idea or experience contradicted Scripture, they threw it out as a lie.
That’s practicing discernment. Listen. Understand. Compare with Scripture. Every new bit of info about the spiritual world should go through that filter in your brain. Listen. Understand. Compare with Scripture. That’s the pattern of critical thinking for a Christian.
Not Listening
Let’s start with listening. You’d think that any of us could take the time to listen to what was being presented about the supernatural if we really wanted to discern the truth. But listening is often last on our lists of things to do.
For instance, someone who has already decided there’s no way any supernatural force could have been involved in the origin of the world might not take the time to listen to the evidence for an intelligent designer. That person might just tune out immediately when someone starts to talk about creation.
On the other side of the block, closed-minded Christians often miss opportunities to help clear up misunderstandings about the spiritual simply because they don’t take the time to listen to those who have questions.
But taking the time to listen gives us another chance to help someone (or ourselves) discern the truth about strange or unexplained experiences.
Another reason people don’t listen is fear. The spiritual world is just so scary for some folks that they don’t want to hear anything about it. Or they’re afraid that listening to someone talk about communication with the dead or other strange happenings will cause them to doubt their own beliefs.
But fear is a lousy reason for not practicing discernment about spiritual things. The Bible is clear that fear does not come from God (2 Timothy 1:7). God is not only big enough to protect us from the supernatural world, He’s big enough to handle any hard questions that come when we take the time to listen to what others are saying about spiritual things. If God is really God, hard questions aren’t going to shake Him—and they don’t need to keep us from listening.
Adapted from Don’t Buy the Lie: Discerning Truth in a World of Deception by Mark Matlock. Published by Zondervan. Copyright 2004. Used with permission.
