“John Murray said, ‘The difference between truth and error is not a chasm but a razor’s edge.’ Spurgeon said something like it too: ‘Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather, it is the difference between right and almost right.’ Both these giants emphasize the vital quality (and difficulty) of discernment. Unfortunately in our time, even among Christians, discernment is long in demand and short in supply.”(Ligon Duncan, as quoted from: “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment,” Tim Challies, endorsements of book p.1).

The excerpt I’ve quoted above is a reality we all face today. This era we live in is an era of a smorgasbord of choices: from fast food restaurants to eat to what music to play on your wedding day. Some choices are easier than others. Choices are moral and amoral. However, choices we can not evade! Nonetheless, what makes your choices right and wise is determined by your spiritual discernment ultimately. This is why biblical wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are so important. All three of these are biblically sound ways to determine right from wrong. Without them you will be sailing through a sea of uncertainty. You cannot bypass the hard and tough road to be biblically minded and solidify a biblical worldview. You must be moving forward in progress or suffer the regress into the depth of immaturity. One proof of a lack of discernment is “spiritual immaturity.” If you desire to distinguish “right from almost right” and discover the “razor’s edge between right and wrong,” then you must be willing to discern and be progressing in discernment. Hebrews 5:10-14 says, “¹⁰being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.¹¹Concerning ^£him we have much to say, and it ishard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹²For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. ¹³For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. ¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”This passage clearly delineates the principles of spiritual discernment. The obstacle clearly given by the author is that of “dull of hearing.” Dull of hearing describes someone who cannot partake in solid food. Solid food, the author states, is for those who can discern. Those who cannot take in solid food lack discernment. They are not accustomed to “the word of righteousness.” Furthermore, they are described as infants. Dull of hearing, nevertheless, is a person who lacks the ability to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1-6). This is one who also lacks the ability to “examine everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). This person also is the one who is, “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). We are called to discern! Will you answer the call?