Today we conclude our series on discernment. First, we saw that our discernment must not be based upon miracles or supernatural encounters. Then yesterday, we discussed that discernment must be based upon God’s Word and the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Now let’s look at a couple of things that can hinder us from having clear discernment.
Tradition can keep us from having clear discernment.
Matthew 15:1-3 (NIV). ”Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?‘”
Today we may look at this and say, “Gee, what’s the big deal? So they didn’t wash their hands!” But keep in mind that this is talking about Jews to an audience of Jews. There were a bunch of traditions that had been handed down to them that had come to be regarded as authoritative. They were a big hairy deal! In reality, however, they were merely the traditions of men.
There is nothing wrong with tradition in and of itself. And, as Andy Stanley says, “Every tradition was once somebody’s radical idea.” When hymns were introduced to the church a few hundred years ago, it was scandalous. How dare they take the music of bar rooms and play them in the church! Or go further back to when they introduced pipe organs to the church… Did you know that split churches?
Yet today, some regard these things as being an essential part of the gospel. Is there something wrong with them? No, of course not. That is, unless we choose the tradition over obeying God.
The discernment of many people is wrecked by seven words: ”We’ve never done it that way before.”
Secondly, past hurts can keep us from having clear discernment.
When we are still nursing wounds from the past, we view all things through the lens of those hurts. We can actually transfer the wounds from one issue to another unrelated issue.
For example, when I was young, heights didn’t bother me. I used to climb up on the roof of our house just to play. Sometimes on Halloween I’d climb up there with my BB guns to discourage potential TPers.
But then my dad had an accident. He was climbing down a hydraulic lift at work, and the way it was positioned, the braces could not be extended. As he climbed down, the lift fell over, pinning him to the floor. Bones were broken in his heel and his arm, and he was in a wheelchair for a few months.
I didn’t realize it until years later when I took a job that required me to climb buildings, but from that event I gained a relatively severe fear of heights. I’ve overcome it to some degree, but I still stand on the Bible promise, “LO, I am with you always.”
Christians do something similar all the time. They get hurt in a church situation. Some pastor treats them wrong, or some Christian doesn’t act like Jesus. And they begin to see things that happen in the church and ministry through that lens.
In order to discern clearly, we have to weigh whether our perceptions are based upon our traditions, our past hurts, or solely upon God’s Word. Granted, I imagine that all of us have our discernment tainted to some degree by our experience. That should compel each of us to continue growing, learning, and seeking healing from the things in our past that hold us back.
One great thing about following Jesus is that He allows us to be positioned in places to confront those things so that we can find freedom.
The good news is that we can grow in discernment as we mature in Christ. Hebrews 5:14 (NIV) tells us, “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
How is the Lord allowing you to exercise your discernment so that you can better distinguish good from evil?
