DISCERNMENT

Hebrews 5:12-14

Discernment is founded on being skilled in the word of righteousness.  Then their powers of discernment are trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil, not on fleshly desires or personal preferences.

My knowledge of good and evil was supposed to come from God to me directly.  My discernment is faulty because it is tainted by the flesh.  When Eve looked at the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil se was looking through fleshly eyes; “it was good for food, a delight to the eyes, desired to make one wise.”  She was convinced by her flesh not the fear of God.  If the fear of God had been her motivation she would have obey God’s command of not to eat of that fruit.

I have made many choices in my life.  As I look back upon some of these choices I can see where the true motivation was; in my flesh.  Even though I claimed that they were discerned before God, I know in my heart they were more what I wanted than what God wanted.  I know that because those choices are the ones that in the end proved faulty in my life.  I am much more aware now that the spirit of deception that was in the serpent is still alive and well and operates in the realm of my flesh.

I know God better now and continue to learn from Him what is good and what is evil.  The more I know Him the more I can discern His ways for me.  The fear of God works within me and over powers the desires of my flesh.  The more I know Him the more my personal preferences align with His personal preferences.  My experience is that His ways never prove faulty.