Discernment

What is it?

Who could possibly say they know?  It is vitally important for us to have discernment.  Wisdom, Who has it?  Discretion, How could we live without it?  Knowledge, Without it we perish.  Faith, oh we of little faith!  Righteousness, our righteousness must exceed that of the pharisees or we will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!

Jesus is our example.  He is also our judge.  He is a just judge.  He was tempted in the way that all men are.  He persevered to the end with a heart of love and we killed Him refusing His offer of freedom.  He is the greatest judge. There are two laws in effect.  The law of sin and death and the law of life in Christ Jesus.  Two laws.  Inescapable laws.  These laws both come from the heart of God.  God has never changed.  The law of sin and death was first.  It is still in effect.  It is the first step.  The law of Life in Christ Jesus supersedes the former.  This law is a law that takes affect when one is judged by the former law and the individual leans on the judge and pleads for mercy.  Make no mistake, if we do not lean on our judge and cry out in our hearts for mercy we will not be judged by the law of Life in Christ Jesus, but by the former.  I can say this fairly confidently because I have spent many hours before my Judge in tears asking for Him to make me like Him.  I am not much like Him, buy my heart yearns to be so.  This doesn't make me awesome or anything lame like that.  It humbles me.  It gives me the courage to speak this truth to you.

Back to discernment.  What is it?  Who has it?  How can we trust it?  Do I have any?  Does she have any?  Do the people I live near have any?  Jesus expects that we will have it.  He mentions in matthew and other places that those who have more will be given to them and those who do not have that what they have will be taken from them.  This seems to me to be a fundamental principle that we don't hear much about.  We are expected to have all the things that God desires for us to have because He has offered them to us.  If we are lacking it is because we have neglected to take the Kingdom of Heaven by force.  We will take with force the things that are most valuable to us.  James 4 says, "you do not have because you do not ask."  It also says that we fight and war to get the things that we want.  If we wanted God we would fight and war to get it.  If we wanted God we would ask Him to give us a willingness to accept more of Him in our lives.  If we wanted God we would be willing to let go of all the lesser pleasures in life.  We can only serve one master.  It is impossible to be divided.  We will serve the challenger to love if we don't give our lives to Love.

I think about God quite a bit.  I know a little about Him.  I know Him a little.  I love what I know.  I know that there is sin in my life that turns my heart sour and creates apathy towards God.  I don't know God in the way that I am expected to.  Jesus always called those to turn from their old lives and follow Him.  He never gave them a list of how they could improve their marginal lives of worldly concerns.  He said, "follow me."  In my attempt to follow Jesus this idea of discernment comes up.  Popular Christian discernment is not discernment at all but something called fear.   I know what that is.  Discernment is not skepticism.  If there is anything that is opposite of discernment it is skepticism.  There are certain features of the two that may make them seem similar but once again make no mistake, they are not the same.  Jesus had discernment and He entertained Judas for a time and even allowed Him to attend His last few moments with His friends.  I had a birthday recently and was quite rude to an individual who offended my trust and ensured that he realized he was not invited to my silly night out for drinks with friends.  Jesus was not primarily concerned with people not offending His trust.  Jesus was primarily interested in hearing the words of God and sharing those in the appropriate times in the appropriate ways.  His appropriation was not like ours.  It had nothing to do with protecting the sensitivities of the human pride.  He let prostitutes grovel at His feet without telling them that He loved them.  He in His wisdom and discernment let them honor Him with tears and humility.  His gift of grace was in the judgement, "He who has not sinned let him cast the first stone."  He didn't say, "get up off the ground with your crying.  You don't deserve this.  You didn't have sex with all of those men who want to throw stones at you.  You didn't invade the sanctity of marriages with your loose ways.  I like you just how you are!"  He did not say that.  Please bear with me.  That woman was me.  I know.  I just feel the need to state that God's love is not the same thing as the love that hippies promote.  It is not the love that the middle class soccer mom has for her selfish-ass child that has no respect for others. God's love is different.  It is quite a bit different than my love.

We need to begin to discern the love of God.  We need to discern that Gods love is not free, but that it is freely given.  To receive God's love will cost everything.  We must forsake all and follow Him.  God disciplines those He loves.  Love always has a disciplinary component.  The beloved should long for a transformation of the heart into one that is in unity with the lover.  I will give you what I think is the inside scoop...this thing that is life is so important!  It is not a game.  It is not a stage for a play that is your life.  It is a avenue with flashing lights seeking to get your attention and the question is will you follow the things that are most "obvious" or will you seek God realizing that the lights seeking to get your eyes are not lights that shine on the narrow path?  Life is a test.  God is testing your heart!  That is what life is, a test.  Will you forsake your creator, or will you resist all the flashy foolishness that men spend all of their futile lives seeking.

Most people who would be willing to read this blog are people who at some level value the idea of God.  Valuing God as a principle is foolish.  Humbling yourself before God and making your whole life about His purposes is not.  Jesus is not coming back for a bride who really doesn't care about Him.  He is coming back for a bride who will only have Him as her own!  His bride is a bride who realizes who He is!  His bride is beautiful because of His love!  She has been purified by His love and His blood!  She was born in shame!  She has nothing to give but her heart and her eyes!  This is what God wants! He wants hearts and eyes!  A foolish virgin thinks she has time to relax at His delay.  She is not worthy of His love and will not be allowed to attend the wedding.  This is the gospel.  The good news is that those who are not worthy will not be let in.  It is an exclusive event!  Only those who have been broken by God will be allowed.  The other part of that good news is that it is not that we fulfill the first law, which we can't; but that we respond to the Love of God, and the corresponding blood of Christ, with humility and appreciation, which we can do!

I apologize that most of my writings presented here are never edited when I first post.  Some of them I don't have the courage to go back to yet to correct.  I do edit a bit in the process which inadvertently creates new problems, tense inconsistencies.  Many times I get heavy handed with this "you" speak.  Many times I try to go back a day later or so and change it to "we" and "our" because it seems more inclusive and true.  When I do this I create all kinds of oversights.  I apologize, yet I realize that this is mostly for me as a placeholder.  I am getting the concepts out in their infant forms so that I can raise them into children that will go out into the world to change and challenge the hearts of men.