Discernment means prayerful judgments based on oneís faith in Jesus Christ; life in his body however painful and imperfect that body is; full communion with all its members at the same time a loving discipline is faithfully administered.
Discernment is a combination of perception, knowledge, wisdom, judgment that is the product of Christian maturity — long years of faithfully living for God in Christ and with those whom God has called to be our sisters and brothers in the church.
How does one acquire the ability to be discerning? It is not something so much that can be taught in the school of the Christian home or the school of the church, though intentional and faithful activity in these arenas is essential in spiritual formation. Rather it is the result of continually seeking out Godís will through Scripture, the preached word, the sacraments and prayer, and seeing Godís will exhibited in the corporate life of the church and in the lives of Christís disciples.
Discernment is the result of the struggle to live daily life courageously in all of its complexity — in the home, in the church, in the world. Discernment is the end result of a patterning of life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that perceives divine activity in life and seeks wholeheartedly to embrace and affirm it — as an act of faith, based securely in the knowledge of God and of ourselves as that knowledge is given to us by God. Discernment requires an attitude of humility and continuing repentance for our sins.
One of the chief uses of discernment is testing the spirits that we encounter in life. And there are many. Which speak the truth? Which do not? Which lead us into the abundant life promised to Godís people? Which lead us to destruction?
Our culture teaches that discernment is the product of the autonomous self, seeking its own gratification and fulfillment. Hence, operating outside the realm of faith, one simply moves in directions to which one feels drawn and chooses according to that which is perceived to bring self-gratification and self-fulfillment.
In contrast is the way modeled by Jesus “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, . . . [and] he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross” (Ephesians 2:6-8).
Jesus died that we might have life, now and in the life to come. Because of his self-imposed humiliation for the sake of the Other, God exalted him to Godís right hand. Therein lies the pattern, the model, the meaning of Christian discernment and the means to test the spirits, that we might be found faithful at the Last Day.
Christian discernment is a gift of Godís Holy Spirit; it is acquired as one, in faith, seeks faithfully to follow in the steps of the Savior day by day. It opens our eyes to the way things really are, to the Kingdom which is emerging, wherever Godís rule is effective.
Christian discernment will lead us to reject much of what we are taught by everyday life ó and even in the church at times. It will take us against the grain. It will require renunciation of the ways of the world that see in wealth, power and self-aggrandizement the true meaning of life. And in the church, it will enable the people of God to distinguish between those voices and movements that are of God, and those that are not.
Curiously, mirror opposites will reveal themselves to be just that: while presenting themselves to be light and truth, in contrast with the darkness and falsehood of the Other, against which they define themselves, Godís truth may turn out to be altogether different from either. The quest for power, for dominance, for subjection of the Other is not of God. On the contrary, those persons and those movements which most closely emulate the path of suffering servanthood, foretold by the Prophet of the Exile and fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are the ones to which we should be drawn.
The capacity and the activity of discerning the spirits is both gift and command — a gift that can only come from the hands of the loving, gracious God who stoops down like a mother whose love for her child is infinite. At the same time it is a gift that must be used for the glory of God or it is soon lost.
Pray for a heightened level of discernment by Godís people in our time, as they deal with intractable forces and issues whose complexity seem too deep for resolution.
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