We live in a day and age where we have more access to information than ever before. In the morning when we wake up, we can ask Siri what the weather is like and get an instant report, even indicating the probability of weather change and the chance of rain. When we get into our cars, we can enter an address and get directions to our destination. Today, the rise of ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking access to knowledge and information into a space that those who lived 100 years ago could never even have dreamed of. With all of this information, there is also an inherent challenge.
Just because we have access to vast information does not guarantee that we are able to process and discern it appropriately. In fact, with such an increase in information, there is more need today for the people of God to pursue biblical wisdom and discernment than ever before. This requires two things: First, recognizing that all wisdom is not equal. Second, learning what discernment is and how the enemy tries to compromise it.
Not all Wisdom is Equal
In James 3, James asks, “Who among you is wise?” (James 3:13). He then connects our wisdom to our actions and the source and motivation of those actions. If we have bitter envy or selfish ambition in our hearts (James 3:14), this is an indicator that the wisdom that informs our lives has a source from below. In fact, James clarifies that this wisdom is not neutral but rather is “unspiritual, demonic.” However, there is a different kind of wisdom that produces peace, gentleness, mercy, and good fruits. This is a wisdom that comes from above and is in stark contrast to the wisdom that comes from below. The wisdom that comes from below has a goal, and that goal is self-obsession, self-gratification, and self-exaltation. In other words, the goal of this wisdom is to magnify the self.
The goal of the wisdom from above, the wisdom of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30), doesn’t discount or deny the self. It rightly orders the self in light of God and other image bearers of God. The goal is to establish peace because we cultivate peace through our decisions and discernment. James says it this way:
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.
James 3:18 (CSB)
The source of our wisdom matters because it directly impacts our discernment.
Discernment and Distractions
I once read a quote about discernment from C.H. Spurgeon that has stuck with me. I’ll paraphrase his words. He says that discernment is less about determining right versus wrong. It is much more about determining between what is right and what is almost right.
Discernment is a surgical process that requires us to vet out what is good. Then, we have to spot the things that are presented to us as good but are actually detrimental to our well-being. Almost in the same way a surgeon goes into the surgery room to cut out what is in the body that doesn’t belong there, discernment requires us to cut out and remove what is not appropriate for the follower of Jesus. The challenge is to avoid extremes. We want to avoid taking everything out, which will ultimately compromise the good things. We also don’t want to live in negligence and avoidance because those things that are compromising us need to be removed, and they will just infect every part of us.
In the New Testament, one of the words used to describe this kind of discernment is anakrinō. It is used in Acts 17:11 when Paul brings the Gospel to Berea, and the people there “…received the word with eagerness and examined [anakrinō] the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11, CSB). This is where the phrase “study like the Bereans” comes from. The Bereans hear the gospel from Paul, and they do what is right and study and compare it with the Scriptures to determine the authenticity of the message.
The discernment that God calls us to, as is reflected in the Greek word anakrinō, is a kind of examination, interrogation, and inquiry that is diligent and honest. Biblical wisdom, in fact, enables our capacity to know God’s Word so we can live it out in our lives through the process of discernment. In a sense, Biblical wisdom, the wisdom from above, must be the source of our discernment.
How The Enemy Compromises Our Discernment
The enemy will utilize all its tools to compromise our discernment by trying to get us to exchange the wisdom from above with the wisdom from below. The vices of the flesh are outlined by the apostle Paul in a few places:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 (CSB)
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
2 Timothy 3:2-5 (CSB)
When we begin to discern through the filter of “what’s best for me,” we fall prey to the wisdom of the world (vices of the flesh). However, when we discern through the filter of “how can I honor God and His family,” we will live out the ethics of the wisdom from above (virtues of the Spirit).
The Choice is Ours
In the end, humanity has been given agency to determine the foundation of their discernment. The choice is ours. Will we be rooted in the wisdom from above and experience the peace of God that comes with it? Or will we succumb to the wisdom from below and get entrapped and ensnared by the vices of the flesh? As Paul was nearing the end of his life, he wrote to Timothy recalling his former co-laborer Demas. Paul says, “Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica.” (2 Timothy 4:10a). It seems Demas made a choice. Instead of enduring suffering with Paul, he chose the safety and attraction of the famous city of Thessalonica. One wonders about how Demas came to discern that path. Paul seems to indicate that it was an exchange of the wisdom from above for the wisdom from below as he uses the phrase, “he loved this present world.”
We will all be faced with the decision that Demas was presented with. So the question remains: Will we follow the way of the world? Or will we follow the way of Christ? Our discernment will, in fact, reveal who we follow. It will expose what we revere. As G.K. Beale says, “What we revere we will reflect, either to our ruin or restoration.” The object of our reverence will directly impact our process of discernment.
Friend, whom do you revere? It matters because it directly impacts every choice we make.
Related Resource: Finding Peace Through Humility: A Bible Study in the Book of Judges
If you feel like your life is in a spiral and you’re desperate to figure out how to stop it, the answer may be hiding in plain sight. It was the very thing that the Israelites needed in the book of Judges as their sin spiraled them out of control. It is the very thing you and I need today. It is the ancient power of humility.
Scripture References
