How to Be More Discerning

Do you feel like a passive participant in the media and information that comes your way? What is a Christian to make of the news and culture around them? Is there just too much to keep up with?

It sure seems that way.

But it doesn’t have to.

By learning to be more discerning, we can overcome drowning in poor quality information.

We can learn to mentally sort through the barrage of information and emerge with understanding.

What is discernment?

Discernment is simply the ability to judge well. It means you can analyze information and make an informed decision based on insight. It doesn’t mean you have all the answers, but it does mean you know how to decide if an answer you’ve been given is correct.

As a Christian, discernment means you have the ability to judge if something is of God or not.

This is crucial.

Imagine a scenario where you think God has spoken to you. How can you be sure? As Richard Peace notes in his new book, Noticing God,

“How do we know that it is God whom we are meeting and not just our fanciful imagination?”

This is incredibly important, perhaps now more than ever.

There are millions of networks and organizations vying for your attention, trying to tell you what’s important. As James Emery White has noted,

“Howard K. Smith, a news icon in a previous era, once quipped that the media may not tell you what to think, but they most certainly tell you what to think about.”

And that’s the case isn’t it?

But if we let our opinions be informed by various outlets in the world, we will end up mindless beings on our way to Hell. That might sound harsh, but I don’t think it’s untrue.

Accepting what we are given at face value would leave us thinking sex outside of marriage is acceptable, cheating at school and work is the status quo, and Los Angeles is the center of the universe. Just because these things are said over and over does not make them true. Especially not in God’s economy.

So what do we do?

Here are 5 ways you can be more discerning:

1. Question news sources: I don’t mean become a conspiracy theorist. I’m saying to be aware of the bias in the media. For example, CNN is liberal and FOX is conservative. That’s no secret. But knowing this and applying that knowledge to how you receive the news from these sources makes a big difference.
    
2. Read a book that will help you form a Christian worldview: One book has shaped me more than any other on this topic, and that’s James Emery White’s A Mind for God. It literally opened my mind to what it’s like to be a thinking Christian. Another that will give you a strong foundation is John Stott’s Basic Christianity.
    
3. Reflect on how you spend your time: This is a tough one for most people. We don’t often think about the things we do; we just do them. But an awful lot of our time is wasted and misspent by doing this. Reflect on what you read, what you watch, and what you do, and ask yourself if these things are wise to do.
    
4. Shut up!: Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just that we spend so much time talking that it’s impossible to listen. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about thoughtful people, it’s this: They spend time listening. It’s essential to becoming more discerning. When we take time to listen, we can thoughtfully engage what we hear and apply our faith in strategic ways.
    
5. Ask God: We are promised wisdom in the Bible if we ask God for it. Discernment is no different. Pray daily for God to give you the ability to discern His will in your life. Nothing has the ability to yield fruit in this area of your life as much as this.

All of these will help you be a more discerning person.

The real challenge is laid down by John 13:17:

"Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

Will you work on becoming more discerning in your life?

CC Image • Mostafa Abdel Samie on Flickr