Hope Road

The Danger of Discernment

Discernment is a vital part of any believer’s life. I hope that I’m growing in it all the time, learning to evaluate ideas in light of God’s word and in pursuit of His truth. When I open a new book or listen to a new sermon or watch a new movie, I’m consciously or subconsciously critiquing them in order to know whether they are in line with the truth, or at the very least, what truth I can glean from them even if they’re not nominally Christian.

As I said, this process is vital - it should become second nature to us. But it comes with a danger, doesn’t it? It’s the danger that we will become so objective in our thinking that we no longer take things to heart.

For instance, I go to church and hear a sermon preached on the importance of not complaining. But instead of opening my heart and letting the Spirit convict me and change me, I’m busy in my mind, critiquing the pastor’s expositional method and the Bible translation he’s using and the fact that he mentioned he owns an iPhone in one of his illustrations. I am no longer being pierced by the Word. Instead, I am piercing everything around me with my analysis.

To an overly analytical mind such as mine, this is such an easy trap to fall into. It’s grown even easier since I’ve been in college as a Bible major for the past three years, looking at truth and the Word objectively, analyzing and critiquing every idea I come in contact with. As important of a process as this is, it’s so easy for something to be lost in translation: the heart.

While I’m looking at truth academically and examining it mentally, am I allowing my heart and emotions to be engaged? Am I letting truth get close enough to be uncomfortable, to reveal things about myself I need to change, to shine light into the dark places in my heart?

I hope that you and I can continue to be discerning, to let truth into our minds. But I hope that we also let it into our hearts, and remember that what we are learning is meant to be experienced and lived, not just thought about.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22-25)

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