Hebrews 5:14
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Discernment is a particular crucial gift to have to be able to see the trees from the forest. It is a unique ability to understand and know the difference between a truth and a lie. It is particularly difficult for members of the modern age church, because of the dynamics and charismatic temperature within the church framework. Music is the hook. The catchier the tune, the more mesmerized people become. They are actually transformed to a hypnotic state that prepares their hearts to receive and believe whatever is spoken, or whoever is speaking from the pulpit.
What’s missing in a lot of “Laodicean” churches today is the solid and trustworthy word of God. There is a great deal of “feel-good, watered-down, sugar-coated” gospels that sound too good to be true, that it grabs the hearts and minds of the sheeple and transfixes and distorts any truth therein. When they are brought to froth, they are given an invitation to accept Jesus in a short little prayer without a real chance to know what or why they are doing.
The problem is that when the truth is left out or so distorted in such a way, it robs the people’s minds of being able to provide proper discernment. The world around us is no help at all either.
The state of this nation and its vile hatred of anything Christian is evident by the things once were called evil and now being called good and vice versa. It’s like the old shell trick to find the hidden pea.
The mind is a powerful thing. The Lord knew what He was doing when He created our minds and our hearts. He embedded the truth about Him within each us (Romans 1:18-20) that left us without an excuse, but only a free-will choice to know Him or not.
Where does discernment come from? Like everything else, it comes from God. But it also requires an open mind and a knowledge of God to discern both good and evil. One good place to start is by feeding yourself through the solid food of His word – the Bible. There, the truth is fully exposed right out in the open. Moreover, it's completely satisfying.
Not everyone who reads the bible will read it the same way. That’s why so many are reading it and professing what it says without true discernment, and why so many preach Scripture out of context or read more into the Scripture than what it really says. We need to be more like the Bereans (Acts17:11) and examine and compare what men of God are saying in the name of God, to the word of God.
The lesson here is don’t be fooled by all the hyper-charismatic booyah that you may experience on Sunday. Most of it is for show anyway. But observe and listen carefully to what is said and done and make sure (discern) in your heart what is both good and evil.
Comments