Snapshot: Discernment

“My choices, including those related to the day-to-day aspects of life like the use of a modest car, are related to a spiritual discernment that responds to a need that arises from looking at things, at people and from reading the signs of the times. Discernment in the Lord guides me in my way of governing.”
Pope Francis

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 / 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 / Philippians 1:9-11 / Colossians 2:6-10 / 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22 / Hebrews 5:12-14 / 1 John 4:1-6

Snapshot

More than any generation before us, we who live in the Cyber Age need discernment:  Photo- and video manipulation; poorly-researched “news” and blogs purporting “facts”, even so-called “edu-tainment” and mockumentaries that intentionally present fiction as fact; falsehoods are perpetuated by those who don’t bother to check resources or do even a smidgen of investigation before passing on an article or link… we’ve all had first-hand experience in such things.  I have seen a gross lack of discernment (which, like any muscle, must be exercised to become strong) growing in the past few years especially, and it results in a generation of the Misinformed.  It’s harmless when it’s only a trivial topic; but when it forms political, global and social opinions founded on misinformation, let the world beware.

Discernment is a running theme throughout the Bible; whether the actual word discern is used, or implicative words such as wisdom, heed instruction, test everything (1 John 4:1-6), or recognizing right from wrong, the meanings boil down to the application of discernment.  The Bible warns us that we can be led astray (Matthew 24:24; 2 Corinthians 11:14).  1 Corinthians 2:14-16 tells us that, if we are followers of Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit to help us understand spiritual truths; without the spirit truth seems foolish; as spiritually discerning we are to make judgements about all things (to weigh, to consider, to make a clear decision about); it also tells us that as Christians we are not “subject to man’s judgement” (i.e. we should not base our actions or inactions on, or be dictated to by, the opinion of unbelievers).  We should not “go with the flow”, because it’s going downhill!

2 Corinthians 11:12-15 warns believers to be on guard – to be discerning and spiritually alert – even within our own ranks.  I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard half-baked theological messages from a pulpit, or the human tendency to take a single idea and run with it.  Many “doctrines “ in some churches today are unsound biblically:  The “name it and claim it (blab it and grab it)” pseudo-doctrine pushed by some prominent preachers in America is little short of witchcraft; by that I mean that such doctrines purport that by saying the right formula, by conjuring “enough” faith, a human can presume to manipulate or force a higher power to do their bidding.  There is NO solid biblical foundation for such hogwash!  The fact is, Christians are called to suffer, to persevere, to endure, and yet be blessed in that process – not drive Mercedes in a peaceful, healthy, trouble-free existence and otherwise you don’t have enough faith!  This is an example of the passage in 2 Corinthians 11; it’s an example of a gross lack of discernment on the part of a large following of believers that have bought into the pseudo-theologies of teachers like Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen.  Now I know I may step on a few toes by naming names, but in my opinion, if it wakes people up and makes them reconsider blindly following such men and their brand of religion, then so be it.  Use discernment.

Philippians 1:9-11 tells us that through intimate relationship with Jesus Christ (that “love” that “abounds more and more in knowledge and depth of insight”) we will be able to discern what is best, to be pure and blameless.  Colossians 2:6-10 says that if we stay rooted and built up in Christ (in our relationship with him – by regularly speaking with him, and by reading the Word of God, John 1:1), we’ll be better-equipped to avoid being caught in “hollow and deceptive philosophies which depends on human tradition and the principles of the world rather than on Christ.”  That includes all forms of religion.  Structures such as liturgies are good and helpful as long as they serve to draw us to a closer understanding of and a deeper relationship with Christ; but when formula begins to replace friendship, it’s crossed the line to become “hollow and deceptive”.

How can we “warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak and be patient” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-22) if we have no discernment?  We must first be able to recognize idleness, timidity, weakness and those things that strain our patience with others before we can comply.  Discernment is therefore about getting out of ourselves and being sensitive to the world around us, and what others are dealing with or going through.  Vss. 21-22 tells us to test everything.  Hold on to what is good and avoid every kind of evil.  Again, in order to do so, discernment is required and best exercised in relationship with Christ to be able to see below the temporal human level to the spiritual roots.  Hebrews 5:12-14 reinforces this thought:  “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained (by knowing the truth of God’s word, vs. 12) themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

Portrait:  Eliezer of Damascus

In Genesis 24, the chief servant of Abraham – most likely the Eliezer of Damascus mentioned in 15:2 – was given the delicate and important task of choosing a wife for another man.  He took ten laden camels’ worth of bridal gifts, which would have turned any woman’s father’s head.  He needed discernment and guidance from God, to say the least. So he makes an agreement with God:  He explains the parameters of what would convince him of the authenticity of the right woman, yet trusts God to bring it about.  He says, “Let her be the right one.”  He would know nothing of her character except that by meeting his parameters he could say she would be generous and a hard worker; after all it was no easy thing to water ten thirsty camels!  Such an offer would prove her to be worthy of Abraham’s son.  God answered his request and gave him discernment in making the marriage contract.  The servant, faithful to Abraham, relied on God, and God granted him far more success than he’d hoped for as a result.

Close-Up

In an age of information overload we need discernment more than ever before.  Do you practice it?  Do you test things you hear or see for validity before believing them or passing them on?  If not, as the saying goes, you may be “so open-minded that your brains fall out”!  Do not perpetuate falsehoods.  Take the time and effort to test, to discern, to apply wisdom; if you don’t, please do us a favour and do not pass untested information or theology on!  We all slip occasionally, but let us make every effort to stop the flow of falsehood and raise the standard of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

The Art of Listening

I think it goes without saying that we are a generation on information overload; the warning bell has been ringing so long and so loud that we don’t even hear it any more.  We are constantly bombarded by ads, information, misinformation, propaganda, television, magazines, news, entertainment, videos, photos, and cell phones that invade even our holidays.  The true danger in it all is that we stop listening.  That we lose the ability to hear with our heart.  We build up a crust of numbness, a de-sensitizing of our emotions to protect ourselves from the onslaught, and rightly so; but when that protection shields us from loved ones or situations that truly matter to us, or even simply human connection with those around us, something has gone wrong.

Another consequence of the onslaught is the fear that arises of not being heard ourselves; and so we trumpet our news from the rooftop to be heard above the nonsensical din; it seems that quality is no longer a goal, but quantity.  I am a writer; I have 5 blogs that I aim to write on a weekly basis;  I read a lot as well, and many tip-lists on how to run successful blogs recommend that one writes daily.  But I’ve seen the quality of many daily blogs, and most (certainly not all, but most) suffer by sheer quantity – there’s no way of maintaining integrity in writing, researching and investing yourself into an article when the main goal is to crank it out daily… and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be signed up to receive updates of a blog (or a Facebook page) that’s going to flood my inbox with gibberish.  Nor do I want to follow suit, even if it means my “success” in gaining followers of my blogs is limited – I’d rather deliver quality to the few than dribble to the masses.  Not only that, but writing a daily blog would be a tremendous pressure that I simply won’t submit myself to; I’m busy enough working on the manuscript for my next novel!

For me, whether verbal or written, listening is involved – I may listen with my ears, or my eyes – listen to the heart of the writer, to the crux of the matter. Deliberate listening facilitates understanding.  So how can we practice listening?  I recently listened to a TED talk by Julian Treasure on five exercises to improve listening; I share them with you here; click here if you’d like to watch the talk yourself:

1)  Silence:  For at least three minutes a day, try to find a place of complete silence (if not possible, at least aim for very quiet).  It helps to recalibrate your ears, so that you can actually hear the quieter things once again.

2) Mixer:  In a noisy environment, practice focusing your ears on one sound, then another (like the mixing board of a sound system);  It will improve the quality of your listening.

3)  Savouring:  There’s a “hidden choir” all around you; focusing on such mundane sounds as the dish washer or a babbling stream can reveal rhythms and build an appreciation for the simpler things in life.

4)  Listening Positions:  This is the idea that you can shift your position (or “level” of listening) according to what you’re listening to:  active/passive, reductive/expansive, critical/empathetic.  These adjust certain filters that we all have, such as culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations and intentions, which increasingly focus our listening from all “sounds” down to things we specifically listen to.

5) RASA:  An acronym for Receive (i.e. paying attention to the person), Appreciate (giving verbal feedback such as small sounds of agreement or interest), Summarize (feedback of what you’ve understood), and Ask (ask questions afterward).  Practicing RASA will improve not only how we listen, but our retention of information.

James 1:19 urges us to “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” – wise advice in this day and age.

Exiting the Information Highway

How often do we read things like “200 Killed in Rioting” or “50 Missing in Flood” or “40 Killed in Panic Escape at Street Festival”?  Add to that terrorist attacks.  How little we react.  Overloaded with information, our emotions are hard-pressed to appropriately respond.  We’ve moved beyond shock to numbness.  Understandable, really – numbness is a self-defence mechanism that kicks in when we’re threatened with excess.  Two hundred years ago they barely knew what was happening in the next village; now we have a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow of what’s happening in every nook and cranny of the entire planet Earth.  No wonder we no longer respond, and no wonder the media has to try more and more drastic measures to pluck our heart strings.  At some point we just stop looking, listening, or caring; again, it’s a simple reaction to too much stress.

We know more about what’s happening in Timbuktu than we do about what’s happening in our neighbourhood, our friends’ lives, those who are closest to us.  Indiscriminately we allow ourselves to be bombarded each time we log in to social media, open the newspaper or check emails quickly.  The suction, the drain, the indiscriminate distractions come from all sides in our information-oriented age.  You can’t even watch a harmless YouTube video anymore without being first bombarded by an ad.  When you stand in the queue at the Post Office you’ll watch ads displayed on large screens overhead.  Radio, TV, internet… all designed to keep our senses busy… distracted.

So how do we stop the maddening merry-go-round?  How do we exit the information highway and return to pertinent life?  How do we switch tracks without completely de-railing?

Discretion and Discernment

Discretion teaches us to become selective.  It teaches us to guard our eyes, ears and minds from the clamour of sensation and to become more aware of the significant – that in which we can make a difference in the here and now.  I can’t change the fact that someone died in Hong Kong; but I can make a difference in the life of my neighbour who’s just gone through cancer surgery.  You see, the main danger of allowing ourselves to become bombarded and numb is that we cease to be of valuable assistance to those we can really help with the smallest acts of kindness.  If our emotional energies are spent on the frivolous abstractions in life, those things we cannot change, we no longer feel we have the capacity or desire to help those who really need us to be there for them.  But if we close the channel of unnecessary drains, our energy and attentions will be able to reach out to those we can make a difference for.

Discernment teaches us to distinguish between needless drains and relevant issues in which we can be effective changers.  It prevents us from being distracted from the essentials and imposed upon by the inconsequential.  I’ve heard that Smith Wigglesworth only ever read the Bible; some might say that he was sadly uninformed of current events, but perhaps he had the right idea; he was focused.  Especially in the Information Age, “less” is probably “more” in any context.  The Bible will guide us as to what is most important… what deserves our focus, and what does not.

Reflections:

Try to avoid newspapers, magazines, radio news and online news (that includes Facebook and other social media) for a day—maybe even a set day each week; it will be a challenge as it is omniscient and addictive (and yes, I realize the irony of making this suggestion on a blog!); but if you can do it, begin to look around instead; where can you make a difference in your neighbourhood, town, job, school or family?  Are your senses more attuned to the pertinent than they are on days you let the distractions in?  If so, it’s a good indication that numbness had taken hold.  Act accordingly.

I want to encourage you to stop the drains of the insignificant and open the channels to the significant in your lives… neighbours, family and friends.  Find out what’s happening in their lives, and how you can make a difference.  Learn to cultivate stillness; it’s something you’ll have to make room for, but it’s well worth the effort!

If you’re hungry to learn more about the art of stillness, here’s an excellent book:  Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster.

Proverbs 2:10-12; Proverbs 17:24;Philippians 4:8