Be a Person of Discernment and courage

By: American Decency Staff

If you and I are to be successful as leaders in our family, at our work place, and in our spiritual lives, it is imperative that we be people of spiritual discernment. 

We must be able to discern the motives behind words, actions, and attitudes – not for the purposes of condemning, but to help and protect ourselves, our loved ones – one another.

Examples of Discernment?

News items that unfold before us daily are often loaded with innuendo and messages that run counter to spiritual truth.  How we respond truly has broad-reaching implications.  Will we be duped, sucked in, “fooled”, degraded?   Examples abound.

Example 1:  An image of a scantily clad woman promoting a hamburger (think Hardees).   What are they trying to sell?  

Example 2:  Day after day news articles are trumpeting the fact that John Brennan’s name was up in the Senate for approval to head the CIA.  Yet, the facts indicate that John Brennan may have actually converted to Islam.   FYI: He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 63 to 34.  What does that tell you about the Senate? Our nation?

Example 3: The Dow Jones has set records in recent days, yet unemployment remains high and our national debt has reached over 16 trillion and continues to skyrocket. Many wonder how this can be?  What are the implications of government spending that is out of control that it is rapidly going deeper in debt?

Example 4:  Egypt is now headed by President Mohamed Morsi who is an Islamist, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.  He advocates Sharia law.   Yet, President Obama and our State Department under Hillary Clinton and more recently under John Kerry have been shipping massive amounts of military armaments (including tanks)  to Egypt along with billions of dollars of foreign aid.  Why would our national leaders empower a nation so staunchly against Israel and against our historical principles – life, liberty and religious freedom?

Example 5: Television programming is largely godless filth.  A Christian man or woman come home from church and watch programs like “American Dad” and “Family Guy”.   Is this consistent with a faith that calls us to be like Jesus?

Example 6:  President Obama is pro-homosexual and pro-abortion.  Millions of voters saying they are Christians vote for President Obama.  ???????

Discernment.

Discernment is the ability to make accurate evaluations based on the wisdom and understanding of Scriptural principles. 

When a person truly receives Christ as Lord and Savior, the veil of spiritual blindness is removed.  He now has spiritual eyes.  The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

I Corinthians 2:14

While yet a teacher in the public schools back in the late 1980s, I became increasingly concerned regarding the impact of television upon the hearts, minds, and spirits of young people.

Some parents and teachers probably thought I was radical as I regularly and faithfully encouraged my students to read books as opposed to watching hour upon hour of television.  Yet many parents were very supportive, and years later, students and parents told me that my emphasis on reading made an impact upon their lives.

National statistics were continually showing (and still show) that family and children were watching an inordinate amount of time watching television. 

Godless images and themes increasingly began to fill the airwaves.  What was available then, as bad as it was, is child’s play compared to today. 

We are paying a terrible price as our culture has been and is being shaped by programming and movies that have degraded our sense of right and wrong.

Here are a few questions to consider?

1.    What would Jesus think  about us watching programs like “American Dad”, “Glee”, “The New Normal”, “Family Guy”, “Sister Wives”, “Victoria Secret Fashion Show”?

2.    Do I even stop and consider what God thinks about the choices that I and/or my loved ones make?

3.    Do I believe that spending time with God in His Word and in prayer contribute to my growing in wisdom and discernment?   And if so, do I spend time (even significant time) in His Word and in prayer?

4.    Does the following passage have application?  If so why or why not?   Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1:24,25

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