25 February 2010
So that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Philippians 1:10
Your child brings a history textbook home from school, telling you that this is a new revision. There’s something about revising history that strikes you as being strange, but you are not sure. How do you know whether the facts have been altered or whether it is simply a new edition?
Someone knocks at your door and asks if they might come into your home and do a Bible study with you. You have an interest in doing this, and their warm, friendly demeanor seems to disarm you as you ask, “What do you believe?” And you get a response, “We just believe what the Bible says in the King James text!” How do you know whether their teaching will enrich your life or confuse you with a cultic interpretation of the truth?
“Let us discern for ourselves what is right,” one of Job’s friends said, but that is not an easy task. Yes, we agree, discernment is vitally important. It explains why so many today are confused. But what is the basis of discernment? Who is to say what is right or wrong?
Mrs. Ruth Graham, the late wife of Billy Graham, was having dinner with one of the directors of the Bank of Scotland, the man who was in charge of detecting counterfeit currency. “Oh,” said Mrs. Graham, “you must study the counterfeit a great deal to be able to quickly detect the bogus from the real thing!” Surprising her, he replied that he never studied the counterfeit—only the real thing so by knowing the characteristics of the real, he could quickly discern the counterfeit.
Our English word discern comes from a Latin word, discernere, which means “to separate.” You’ve got to know what a straight line is before you can detect the crooked one, and that is why a simple but factual knowledge of the Bible is absolutely necessary if you are not to be taken in by the fraud.
After Paul established a church in Ephesus, he wrote to the elders there saying, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!” (Acts 20:19-31). Did you notice that these false teachers mixed truth and falsehood together? That’s like mixing milk and acid. But Paul says, “Be on your guard!” It’s the same term that would be used of a boxer who has to guard against the blows of the enemy.
The purpose of discernment isn’t to expose the errors of false teachers—at least primarily. It is to protect you, your family, and your household. One of the churches that was closest to the heart of Paul was this group of believers in Philippi—not perfect, but striving to please God. Paul prayed for them, asking God to enlighten them. Here are his words: “So that you may discern what is best and may be pure and blameless unto the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10).
A closing thought. A missionary family in Manila seemed to be sick all of the time. Doctors there just couldn’t find the problem so the family was forced to return to their homeland, where blood analysis showed a high level of poison—the same kind which is used to kill ants and cockroaches. Was somebody—perhaps the house help—trying to kill them? No! They were completely trustworthy. How explain it? The mother, not wanting cockroaches in her home, walked through the house at bedtime, spraying the floors and cracks generously. Her family breathed this all night. Unknowingly she was killing her own family.
Paul’s words are fitting: “Be on your guard!” The carcinogenics of the world are more devastating than cockroach spray.
Resource reading: Acts 20:25-38