Spiritual Discernment

Vol 2 No 16 THEO'S DEVOS

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Have you ever tried to talk about spiritual things to a non-Christian and have them respond in a way that makes you wonder if they heard what you were saying? I remember watching a panel on television quite a while ago where there were several people of different positions in terms of belief. There was a conservative Christian, a liberal Christian, an atheist, and a couple others of questionable faiths. The conservative Christian, in trying to explain Bible's teaching about salvation, quoted John 3:16. As soon as he had gotten done, the atheist said: “Well that is your interpretation.” Now this Christian had not interpreted the verse at all. He had simply quoted it but, since the atheist did not believe, she had to put the interpretive 'spin' on it.

One of the proofs of salvation is that the Christian has a spiritual discernment that allows him, or her, to understand the simple teachings of scripture so that they are no longer confusing. That does not mean that we will understand everything about the Bible for there are some things that are beyond human understanding which I think is great because it is what I expect of an infinite God who is explaining reality to me. How Jesus be 100 per cent God and 100 per cent human at the same time is beyond my understanding. How God be totally sovereign and yet allow for human responsibility is also beyond me. But the simple truth of salvation, that Jesus died for my sin so that by believing in him I could have eternal life, is easily understood by anyone with spiritual discernment but beyond those whose minds are still darkened by the devil.

This is important because we seek to be guided by God and the only written tool that we have is the Bible. As we read it we need the discerning power of God to understand and apply these infinite truths. As we read, and reread, we begin to develop, what the Bible calls the mind of Christ. To begin to understand what Jesus would do in all the circumstances of life no matter how difficult they may be or become.

This is also where prayer comes in. James tells us that we should pray for wisdom. It is interesting that he does not say we should pray for knowledge. We are supposed to study in order to get knowledge. What is the difference? Well knowledge is the gathering of facts and the understanding of concepts so that we can answer questions about life and faith. Wisdom however, is the application of knowledge and it is a much more important quality. To have knowledge but to not know how to apply it is disastrous. It explains why very intelligent people can do some very stupid things. Someone has said that common sense is not very common any more. I agree.

So if there are some things that are spiritually discerned then we should be constantly asking God for that discernment so we can apply the things of scripture accurately in our lives. It is a prayer that I pray for myself and for you. That God would help you not only understand scripture but put it to work in your life and to be able to know the difference between truth and error concerning spirituality. Remember, howerver, that you can be a Christian for 50 years and still be a novive when it comes to spirituail things.

May God help you with your ability to disecrn today and may that enable you to follow God's guidance even bette. May He bless you richly today.

Theo

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