Discernment - We Need Some!

The other day I needed to get some targets from the sporting goods store. I went on line and researched the opening time and laid plans to get to the store at its opening. I hopped in the little car with the top down and the morning was perfect. The heat had not moved in yet. As I drove I thought of various things from the day the Lord had made to visiting a new place and developing a new skill. I drove up to the shopping center and pulled in only to see large signs saying “Open at 11am”! I saw lights on so I got out of the car and checked the doors. The outer one was open but not the inner one. I went back to the car, pushed the top back down and contemplated where else to get targets. As I drove toward the entrance of the lot I realized I had automatically gone to my wife’s favorite store which was next door to where I wanted to go! Two things occurred to me. One my wife has me trained better than I thought and operating on autopilot in this world can get you in trouble,

Discernment is defined as the ability to distinguish reality from appearances and truth from falsehood. The ability to apply common sense, good judgment and maturity to understanding life in our day of information overload is desperately needed. The ability to see there are things that matter and things that do not, the ability to see there are things that make a difference and things that do not, and the wisdom to know the difference isn’t as easy as it seems. Is there any among us who can help us?

Let’s start at the bottom of the skill set for discernment. There are some human skills to be understood as people flood us with seemingly convincing arguments. There is manipulation. Mark Twain once said, “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake it you’ve got it made.” And then there’s us. Sam Johnson once said, “Go into the street and give a man a lecture on morality and give another a schilling and see which will respect you the most.” The problem of discernment goes both ways, after all as a man thinks so is he.

I’ll suggest a resource and then give you some highlights. “Asking the Right Questions –A Guide to Critical Thinking 7^th ed.” by Browne and Keeley, is not for the faint of heart. It can be skimmed by the highlights and you will gain enough situational awareness to know you’re being sold something from the wrong store.

First the structure behind what you are reading, hearing or watching. Somebody wants us to believe something, feel something and likely to conclude something. What is the solution or, like medicine, what is the prescription? Not only serious stuff has a message but often entertainment sends us messages. For instance is your entertainment prescribing the way life should be or is it simply reflecting life as it is? Simply put: How much stock should you put in what you took in? Remember the law of unintended consequences applies here. The message may not be the obvious one.

There are some questions to ask about the structure of what we are given in say, advertisement for instance. Does the belief, evidence or statements offered actually support the conclusion? New and improved for instance. As opposed to what? Does it mean it is the latest batch to hit the store and the box art is new and improved or it the product actually changed? Is the ad just meant to make you feel out of date because you have the old stuff? What does the product date mean anyway? Is what you are being told unclear, capable of saying a lot without saying anything?

Value statements may or may not be apparent. When being told such and such will make your life better, will it? Hidden here are unspoken values that drive the value of what is being said. If it connects with your values, it may be easily agreed with. If it makes you think, then think. Do a little research. Then decide. Did the emotional story or pictures portray reality overall or just in a narrow particular situation? Knowledge is not wisdom but knowledge can serve wisdom.

It is also common to have gaps in reasoning so the information given doesn’t match the conclusion proposed. Everything from marital and family arguments to political ads and product comparison uses this technique. The Personal Attack method: a person or item is attacked and insulted instead of directly addressing the issue. The Slippery Slope method: we are made to assume if a certain action is taken it will set off a chain reaction of events, even if there are safeguards that would not allow it. The Perfectionist Barrier: if some of the problem would be helped but not all of it, it is best to do nothing. The Redefining a Word method: Talk clearly about apples but all the while actually mean oranges. The Attack a Straw Man method: Set up an argument that leaves only one solution but never mention alternative options, especially if the “other side” suggested it. Teens are especially good at this next one but many adults having learned this trick use it, just more subtly. It’s the Claim Questionable Authority Method. “ALL my friends are doing it.” The world thinks such and such about Americans. What source are they using to make that statement? Claiming world opinion is a bit sketchy don't you think?

There is so much more available to us to learn how to process and filter information. This is only the first level of situational awareness. There are more questions to consider: How good is the evidence? Are there rival causes of this behavior? Are the statistics deceptive? What significant information is omitted? What reasonable conclusions are possible? Start with being aware it is your responsibility to look beneath the surface to gain wisdom and insight.

The deeper level of discernment is a more powerful filter. Our own world view comes into play. It is made up of our own values, assumptions, life experience and spiritual life or lack of it. You may not realize you have a world view but you do. It is the filter of your heart and we all have the problem of the penny. We say, “A penny for your thoughts and then put in our two cents.” Where does the other cent come from? If our hearts are rebellious and self centered, if that is the other “cent,” we can gain not understanding but negativity, hostility, and a general spirit of skepticism. So one more thing needs to be said:

We choose our “philosophic position” (world view) based on our perceived desires – this is a direct reflection of the condition of the heart. “The deepest problems of the human race are spiritual. They are rooted in man’s refusal to seek God’s way for his life. The problem is the human heart, which God alone can change.” Billy Graham

All discernment without considering your heart filter is incomplete and capable of leading according to our own wants and sin. Consider this timeless heart cleanser as you develop true discernment. “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation-the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ-for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”Phil 1:9-11 NLT

Ice Cream and Spiritual Growth

The other day I got some ice cream, homemade coffee ice cream with heath bar chunks in it. I had a decision to make. Would I like it in a regular flat bottomed cone or in a tapered waffle cone?

That sent my mind down memory lane to a professor who used an ice cream cone to teach a spiritual truth. The tapered end of the ice cream cone was likened to the point of spiritual decision. It could be the beginning place of repentance, forgiveness and freedom from our past acts of sin. Or it could be choosing to live a fully surrendered life to develop the character of Christ, walking in the Spirit. The work of the Spirit in those moments of decision in either repentance or full sanctification is precise. It deals specifically with beginning a new relationship with God.

Because we speak of the point of decision and emphasize it, preachers, teachers and our own presuppositions can unintentionally lead us to expect all the implications for living out the Christian life are done at the moment of decision. In reality the Holy Spirit downloads into our lives his transforming presence and connects us to the Father but the application and action of this experience requires us to be a willing partner working out this new power in everyday life. There is another reason we like the idea of one and done at the point of decision. We prefer the idea of instant. We do start out in the context of immaturity after all. It would be easier if we didn’t have to work out our faith. Looking at our analogy how would it work if we thought the ice cream cone was only its tapered tip? Our ice cream cone needs two things: the expanding size of the cone to be filled and someone to eat the ice cream and the cone.

There are no shortcuts to maturity. It is true God can and will make us clean and holy in a moment when we choose to ask him into our lives. But it is also true the motive of love placed within us takes a lifetime to unfold. New standards of behavior become the norm. We are challenged to think of others differently and to do life differently. We call this discipleship. “I am crucified with Christ therefore I no longer live, Jesus Christ now lives in me. The life that I now live I live through faith in God’s own Son who loved and gave his life for me.” That’s a pretty radical change. And in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit we find we can begin to live out these changes. But we also find in our humanness we must learn obedience even through suffering and that we can live in deep reverence (love) of the Father and this growth in relationship spills out in everyday behavior.

Because there are no shortcuts to maturity, we must come face to face with past emotional pain often derived from those who were the most significant to us. Perhaps we could say the sins of the fathers visit down unto the even the third and fourth generations. Within the context of temperament, heredity, environment and our own subculture, we each find we developed coping mechanisms to which we may be blind. We truly asked Jesus for forgiveness and it was given. We truly are now his children. We come to grasp the truth of full surrender to deal with our character not just our behavior, yet for many something just seems to misfire. We discover not everything was dealt with in an instant. Yes we are the Lord’s, but something like healing forgiveness needs to happen within us, something that allows us to establish new patterns of coping. Unless we understand a decision point is the beginning and not the end of our life in Christ and in the fullness of the Spirit, we are going to struggle with the ability to live compassionately with ourselves and others.

One of the most difficult things about living in Christian communities is to understand how to live loving our neighbor as ourselves. Kingdom living is a skill to develop. What if people who claim to love Jesus, claim to have surrendered to the Holy Spirit yet STILL have hurts and struggles that result in outbreaks of contradictory behaviors and confusions? What if their personalities and quirks cause us to judge them harshly, to be impatient with them and to be critical of them? What if the survival tactics of the past rise up under pressure that confuse and discourage us and unknown to us they are discouraged by it too? They are not fakes, phonies or hypocrites. They are people like you and me that have hurts and scars and wounds that interfere with ordinary everyday living. People just like us. And the Healer has hope for them IF they will push through the suffering with deep reverence and trust. The combination of fear, and deep hurt combined with the expectation for all the workings of the Holy Spirit to be instantaneous can be a real barrier.

It is true that by their fruits we shall know them and ourselves, but it is also true by our roots we can know and not judge them and ourselves in the sense of bitter criticism. Some who come through this journey become wounded healers. NO we are not to continue in sin that grace might grow more, but all growth and Christlikeness is not equal. Think about habits that you were delivered from at the beginning of your walk. For some deliverance was instantaneous. For others it was a period of time. Think through the lessons of grace you are learning and applying in the mid-season of your walk. Be aware that you are not done learning to grow in wisdom and stature with God and man. It is a life long journey and just when you think you have found your footing, it is time extend that same grace and wisdom to mentor others.

Let’s go back to the ice cream shop. The tapered end of the cone is the beginning of the structure of the cone. It enables the scoops of delicious ice cream to be delivered until it is full and rising above your cone. Unless you do your part it becomes a sticky mess nobody likes. So hop to it Skippy and LICK IT!