Minding Your Math:
Inspired Discernment – Part 1
Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:1-8
Key Verse: Philippians 1:9-10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ
In yesterday’s devotional I spoke of discernment. Webster reminds us that to discern something, we detect it with our eyes or come to know or recognize it mentally. We desperately need that in the society that we live in. We have so many options. We are blessed to live in this country and enjoy the overflow of activities at our fingertips. These blessings can (and have for some) turned into curses. Parents are stressed as they run from one activity to another—in high gear—trying to allow their children the “enjoyment” of many activities. Road rage is everywhere as we try to get from one event to the next faster than we really need to!
You and I can’t avoid this crazy pace completely, but we can decide to be more discerning about our schedule. The Apostle Paul has the perfect prayer for our generation. He suggests that we ask God for His spirit of discernment. Paul prays for the Philippian Christ followers that their love for God will grow more and more in wisdom and insight. This insight will, in turn, help us to discern what is best.
We need to remind ourselves that when Jesus told us that He wanted to give us “life to the full,” He wasn’t talking about volume of activities. Jesus was referring to quality of activities that would enrich our lives, not drain us!
Father, I pray that you would grow my love into more knowledge and insight. I want to be a discerning follower! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.