Discernment: Do the Right Thing
The Rev. Lou Tiscione, Pastor, Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Sometimes, we confuse what we think is right with what is right. Our culture places virtue on those who do what they think is right. On occasion, I’ve heard men say that a good gauge of a leader is one who says, ”I commit to do what I think is right”. What we think is right and what is right may not be the same. Yet, it is critical to living a blessed life that we do what is right. This is not only my opinion. God told His people through Moses that a blessed life is a result of doing what He says (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).
Therefore, we can know what is right by looking to God’s word. Romans 12:2 calls Christians not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of the mind. The result is: “That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Ephesians 5:11 points out that Christians were once in darkness but are now “light in the Lord.” Believers are to live as children of light by following Jesus. Disciples (followers and learners) of Jesus Christ are told that the “fruit” of living as children of light is found in all that is good and right and true (cf. Philippians 4:8). Knowing what is good, right, and true is called discernment. Doing it is wise living.
The Hebrews knew that “the fear of the LORD was the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10a). In order to live wisely it is necessary for the creature to know the Creator. God has revealed what He wants us to know of Him through His word written. Just as the church in the Old Testament knew to apply God’s word for wise living, every believer ought to do likewise.
The right application of God’s word is the definition of wisdom. Therefore discernment, knowing the right action, requires knowing what God has said.
The Bible reveals that God is good, righteous, and true. All three are attributes of the One True God. To know the One True God, one must know His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. As the Father is the source, discernment only grows through a personal and intimate knowledge of His Son, Jesus. Discernment is a learned ability rather than a gift. It is available to everyone who professes Christ.
Discernment leads to wise living. Wise living follows the way of blessing. God said the way of blessing was to obey Him. Conversely, He warned that a cursed life would follow the one who disobeyed Him. I have yet to meet someone who wanted to live a cursed life. Yet, by ignorance or avoidance of God’s word, we head towards destruction. Don’t be fooled by following someone who commits to do what he thinks is right. First, know yourself what is right. Then do it.
The key to discernment is to know what is right, good, and true. The method for knowing is not easy, but is a blessing. The method is the systematic, intensive study of the Bible and the theology which proceeds from it. This is not only a personal endeavor. God has ordained that we grow in discernment and wisdom corporately. I am speaking of the necessity of growing in a church that teaches “sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1).
The Apostle Paul addressed the barrier to growth in discernment, and it is recorded in 2 Timothy 3. He wrote of the “last days”, those days between Jesus’ first and second coming. Paul said that people would be “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (vv. 2-5).
Paul was not describing the world in general. He was describing the visible church corrupted by those who only looked godly. He gave a timeless answer to the problem. Paul’s answer then was for Timothy to continue in what he learned and firmly believed. Paul reminded Timothy that all Scripture was breathed out by God and it is the Scriptures which are able to make the believer “competent and equipped for every good work” (vv. 16-17). God’s answer remains the same. The visible church is the place where we all grow in discernment through personal and corporate study of all that is good, right and true.
