Luke 2:52 – “Jesus Increased in wisdom and in stature with God and man.” This should be our goal as well. This is about discernment.
Hebrews 5:14 – but solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Life experience helps us make the right decisions, to use our best judgment . Constant practice, training. We need to be trained in the basics so that when situations arise we know immediately what the right course of action is.
So how do we develop judgment? With our children, we teach them as they grow, correcting mistakes and recognizing and commending their good decisions. It’s about not forgetting the intricacies. That requires discretion, practice and consistently making the right decisions.
We need to realize our minds can become warped. We can actually think that something evil is something good. The world considers it unloving to tell someone what they are doing is wrong. And, yes, we need to be careful how we say things but, nonetheless, we need to point out evil when we see it.
The point of constant practice is to lead to mastery. It is not to just stay how we are. Repetition leads to mastery. In life, we will face great complexities. Sometimes there are multiple paths to take. That is where discernment comes in. Sometimes there may be more than one good answer but there is always a best way.
Martha was doing a good thing in serving Jesus and objected that Mary wasn’t helping. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the best path, listening to Jesus was the best decision, even though what Martha chose was also a good thing.
What is it in life that provides this constant practice? That gives us the opportunities to envelop our powers of discernment? Part of it is to meet together weekly and study the Bible together. Yes, baptism is important but that’s just the beginning. What it means to live the life of a Christian is the weightier issue. As we meet together and study together we learn more about God. Meeting together regularly is vitally important and yes, it is repetitious and that is the point.
It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me, Gal 2:20. That is the goal, that is the point, that happens through constant training, through repetition.
But there have to be more opportunities than just the 3 times a week we are all together. There needs to be daily training, daily practice.
So we need to ask ourselves – what constant practice is training my powers of discernment? Being here today is one of those things. But what other things am I doing in my life? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you, Jesus said.
We have to have a plan. The most important thing in our life is to be able to discern the difference between good and evil.
