In the last post I shared a personal experience which highlighted to me the need for discernment in the life of a believer. While scripture shows us that discernment is indeed vital, sadly so many in the church today don’t have it. Even worse, there are some who don’t even believe that it is important! If you are one who doesn’t believe discernment to be all that important, I implore you to keep reading. Today I’d like to take a look at four principles in scripture which show us why a believer cannot successfully live the Christian life without this thing called discernment.
1. We WILL be deceived without it
There is no question about it. It’s not a matter of if we will or will not be deceived without discernment, it is an absolute guarantee. Why? Because there are those out there who are make it their mission to deceive believers! A few passages that attest to this are as follows :
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
<>Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light, just as he did when he disguised himself as the serpent and deceived Eve
<>The workers of Satan actually disguise themselves as men and women of God!
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
<>Many false prophets have already gone out into the world! we MUST learn how to recognize them!
Romans 16:18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
<>These men use appealing tactics to deceive such as smooth talk and flattery.
2. We WILL be taken captive without it
The danger of lacking discernment doesn’t end with being deceived. Once we are deceived by Satan or his ministers (disguised as false prophets), we will then move on to be taken captive.
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
<>If we are not growing in discernment, we will be taken captive by the philosophies of this world…which is exactly what is being taught by the false apostles mentioned in 2 Cor 11:13-15
3. We WILL NOT be able to discern good and evil without it
Philippians 1:9-10 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
<>In this passage Paul is seen as constantly praying, among other things that the believers would grow more and more in their discernment. He explains that those who grow in their discernment will be able to prove that which is excellent.
<>The reverse of that would also prove true: if we are not growing in discernment, we will end up approving that witch is evil!
4. We WILL NOT grow to spiritual maturity without it
Hebrews 5:13-14 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
<>This passage could not be clearer! if we do not grow in our discernment, we have no way to grow to maturity. Not much more needs to be said here.
While these passages are not the only scripture regarding the need for discernment, they provide a good framework for understanding why it is so important in the life of the believer. To sum it up, if we develop discernment, we will be less likely to be deceived by false teachers, less likely to be taken captive by worldly philosophies, be able to perceive that which is good (i.e discern good and evil), and therefore, we will be able to grow to maturity.
Ok, so we can see that discernment is important, and that both Satan and his false teachers are out there trying to deceive the hearts of the simple. But how exactly can we tell if someone is actually a false teacher? Let’s take a further look at that in the next post.
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