Daily Diary - May 16th, 2016

Spiritual Discernment

I am thankful that a good friend of mine wrote a response to Friday’s blog on “Knowing Yourself”.  The blog is discussing judgment of people.  I wanted to share his response today and then follow up.  Many good points are made in his response. I will elaborate on the areas for even further breakdown of spiritual discernment.  God’s “Living” word has so much for each of us “Personally”, and hopefully we can all grow by our discussions.

Hi Mark,

Good article today. In a future article could you discuss the difference between judgment and discernment? Obviously what Jesus was condemning in Matthew 7 was the hypocritical judgment of those who held others to a higher standard than they themselves were willing to live by.He was certainly not suggesting that all judgment is forbidden. In fact, Jesus indicated that taking a speck out of your brother’s eye is the right thing to do—as long as you first get the log out of your own eye (Matt. 7:5). We are not to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart, because only God can see them (Hebrews 4:12).

Matthew 7:5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 

I believe there is a specific point that is being made in Matthew 7:5 that is relating to judging others in the same sin or similar sin that you are partaking in.  We all know this happens on a large scale in the world.  To avoid “their” sin being exposed people point the finger at others. 

We are all sinners saved by Grace so it is hard for me to be completely free of all planks in the first place.  Lol!  I believe this scripture primarily is making us aware of the fact that we are sinners first and foremost. So as we are growing in God and our sin is revealed to us we are focused on removal of our own sin areas instead of others.  This scripture can speak to all of us in the way the Holy Spirit intends.

The grace of God is revealed when we are aware of our own sin and are in the process of cleaning ourselves first.  God can clean us up, but only His grace makes us righteous. 

The Holy Spirit is the key to spiritual growth and we are simply examples of the work of Gods love and grace.

John 16:7-12 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I believe we all have a speck or plank of some type in our eye and often times we try to fix one area to match an area of our brothers eye so we can help them.  I am a firm believer we are “always” in need of help. Our personal seeking of God will spiritually draw out our brother’s speck as well through patients and love. 

We can get in God’s way of judgment and discernment by being quick to speak or judge.  The Holy Spirit is in control of true transformation of others. That being said, we should be operating from the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians chapter 5.  We will become bound by the love of God in our guidance of others.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Word of God convicts by the Holy Spirit of God.  It brings forth discernment of what is right and wrong in the eyes of the Lord.

As a Christian, I believe we are in a state of constant transformation from “self” to the likeness of Christ.  It’s an ongoing and humbling process.  I am certain that at times my personal discernment is not valid due to my lack of the intentions of the heart in most cases, even my own intentions for that matter.  I have learned to patiently discern the spirit that is operating in others intentions and allow God to be clear in my responses. 

There is definitely a difference between discernment and judgment and we will continue this discussion tomorrow. 

There is much more to my friends reply that we will be examining together this week.  Hope we all are able to grow by this breakdown of spiritual discernment.

Father God, we thank you for your Holy Spirit and Your word.  We humble ourselves to your work and allow you grace to be our guide in discernment and judgment.  We are reminded that you are the author and finisher of our faith and will guide us into all truth in Jesus name! Amen.

John 7:16-18 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.