I have always been a person that looks at both sides. I admire people who can grab one side and vehemently stick to that perspective. There are some areas of my life that I do not sway, but many things I look at two ways. Here’s an example, you can call looking at things two ways as “double minded”, or you can say it’s “wisdom to see both sides”…. Welcome to my world of “both sides”.
The scripture talks about wisdom, it talks about discernment. Lets take a look at those today.
The importance of looking at things accurately has always been an issue. The advent of social media and digital communications has added a whole new perspective on discernment. It doesn’t take long to look online and see there are as many opinions, articles, as there are people. The old saying “opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one” comes to mind (actually some people don’t have a belly button, but you get my point).
So how do we march ahead confidently in life, in particular as a spiritual person, with proper discernment?
THE WORD
The Bible is always our measuring stick, and it is the center of attack for many opinions. If evil can water down the Word it can destroy your basis of truth. In the days we live you can find a counter opinion on virtually anything said in the Bible. How do we handle that? Here’s a few ideas:
- Read it. We can all do better at this, but read the bible. It’s said that when they teach people to identify counterfeit money that one of the things they do is make them hold real money over and over, and then when a counterfeit comes they can recognize it. I think it’s the same with the Word.
- Understand the Bible we have was translated from other languages. We need to dig in deeper to see the original intent.
- Pray over your study and ask God to protect your mind and give you discernment.
- Create a group of teachers/wise people you trust and use them as a measure. What are they saying?
- Spend some time studying apologetics, it’s the “reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.” (From <https://www.google.com/search?q=define+apologetics&oq=define+apologetics&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.5289j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8> ). As an example, I admire the late Ravi Zacharias (https://www.rzim.org/) and watch his teachings.
- Take a look at what the fruit is of your Bible study… is the fruit being angry at everyone and pointing out their faults, or is it a love for God’s creation?
HOLY SPIRIT
You might call it “the other end of the spectrum” from apologetics, but I believe Holy Spirit speaks to God’s people individually. I believe we can learn how to “hear” that communication. It cam come through books, the Bible, a song, a picture in your mind, something someone says, a “word of knowledge” from someone, and it come from prophetic people. If you have done any looking at prophetic voices at all, no doubt you have run into the problem that there are as many completely different prophecies as there are people, the belly button thing again… every prophet has one (again, some people don’t have a belly button, but you get my point). Search online and you’ll see words that God is very angry, you’ll see that He is disappointed, that California will drop into the ocean, that California will not drop into the ocean and God is bringing a great awakening there, you’ll read that this is the worst time in history, you’ll read it’s the best time in history. You get my point.
- I believe we should also find prophetic voices that are accurate and trustworthy (however strange they many seem), and see what the Holy Spirit is saying corporately. I’ve found this to be invaluable in the time we live. I’ve watched the words of strong prophets come to pass, and they can give direction, comfort, or (in the year I’m writing this, 2020), context as to what is happening with all of this craziness we’re going through).
- Learn to hear the voice of the Spirit ourselves. This is crucial. I remember years ago I was going through one of the hardest times in my life. During that time I was getting advice from every direction, and it was all different. I remember praying and telling God I needed to hear Him. I remember thinking “here I am in the biggest fight of my life and I do not know how to hear God”. God will speak specifically to you, if you open yourself, and if you press in to learn how. I remember at the end of 2019 I asked the Holy Spirit about the year ahead, I do that every year. The ONLY thing I received was a short and simple statement “in my head” that was clear and simple… “stick with Me”. That’s it! What? Does that mean the world is falling apart? What does that mean? Is it bad? It’s been a great anchor for me this year as we’ve seen events of Biblical proportion happen before our eyes. I’m sticking with Him.
LOGIC – UNDERSTANDING
I believe part of discernment is logic, or maybe it’s best stated as “understanding”. Proverbs 4:7 says “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.” God gave us our minds, we should use them. I do believe that spirit comes first, and spirit filters for the mind. The mind can also help to filter what we think we hear from Spirit. If we hear we are supposed to go do harm to someone, or do something completely anti Biblical then our mind can help filter that, conversely not everything from the Spirit makes sense to the mind, they can be at war with each other… we need to discern. An example of working with mind and Spirit happens all the time as we read things on the internet. We should be filtering through our spirit (we should be asking ourselves What do I feel like? Is this resonating with me or am I getting warning signs when I read this?), but our minds also help in filtering those things that are no at all logical. It’s a dance, we are triune in that we are spirit, soul, and body and they work together.
THE GOAL IS TO BE A WISE AND DISCERNING PERSON
As we walk out our journey, we are constantly having to process things and to decide what is true and what is false, what we should listen to and what we shouldn’t, who we trust, and who we don’t. However, if we use basic tools, and grow in them, we can straighten that path and not “turn to the right or to the left” (Proverbs 4:27, Isaiah 30:21 ). Learning discernment will bring peace and direction to our lives and help us as we influence others around us.
— Carl Hedin
