Discernment

 

 

If a person has paid any attention to “Christian” circles they will have noticed that there is and has been a shift or swing away from practices that have been seen in our churches. I’m not saying that there is no need for change, but I’m also not saying everything needs to change.

There is much debate on what are the things that should change. If one church, preacher, Christian disagrees with another church, preacher, Christians, they resort to name-calling. One side will call the others liberals, compromisers, worldlings or something along that line while the other side fires back by calling them Pharisees, legalists, mean spirited, or something along that line.

Truth be known you’ll find all the above mentioned out there. What surprises me is the lack of discernment that is practiced by churches, preachers, Christians on both sides. I refer to this as ditch jumping. One group thinks/feels that if they can get as far away as possible from the ditch that they were in will find themselves in more freedom or liberty but refuse to notice they’re in the opposiste ditch. The other group see the fallacies of the opposite ditch as greater evils than their ditch so they refuse to move. Both sides point out the failures of the opposite ditch thinking that they are better because they are not in the same ditch, but refusing to see themselves as in a ditch and both are claiming to be balanced and have the right interpretations, explanation, and application.

 

My point once again is the lack of discernment from both sides. We have often been told how banks would train their people to spot or identify counterfeit currency. Their people were taught what real money looked and felt like, therefore if a counterfeit bill came across their desk it was immediately identified.

In Philippians 1 Paul talks about two groups of preachers. Those that preach Christ of contention and the other of love yet Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached. Why and how could Paul rejoice in that? Why did he not feel it was his duty to “call out” all those preachers? The answer is simple, he knew that all of this would turn to his salvation. Even though some were looking to add affliction to his bonds the reality would be that Christ would be magnified in his body. This does not mean that error goes untouched in the local church setting, for Paul obviously did that.

 

So what can we draw from that? I would suggest that we live the difference. Live Christ and him crucified, live the opposite of all that you’re now criticizing and stop practicing the exact same tactic from the opposite ditch with your slant on it. Paul knew that as long as Christ was preached, no matter from what crowd, that that message would line up with his life and sooner or later people would see that the message of Christ matches that man of Christ.

 

As Christians let’s practice a bit of discernment and stop reacting to the crowd that we think has lost their bearings with the same antics, cute sayings, comeback, or insults and condescending statements that have been used against you. Live the difference that the gospel makes and you’ll be surprised at how the Lord will be magnified in you.