This week we are continuing our series about the importance of investing in others, especially younger generations. We’ve talked about beginning that investment by making sure our faith and relationship with God is something worth passing on to others. We’ve also talked about sharing God with others as we go about our days. We’ve been looking at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and what God said about investing in the next generation in those verses. Today we are going to pick up in verses 8-9 which say:

“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

We know from our previous articles that God was giving these instructions through Moses to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land. During the Second Temple Period, after the return of some of the exiles from Babylon, some in the nation of Israel began to take these verses literally. They began putting mezuzahs on their doorposts and wearing phylacteries, or tefillin, on their arms and foreheads. These small boxes held parchment with scripture passages. I don’t know that these were supposed to be taken that literally, and even the Israelites generally only wore them during prayer times.

In American Christian culture though, our modern equivalent probably looks more like decorative signs from Hobby Lobby and shirts with Scripture or Christian sayings. Whether or not you like wearing Christians t-shirts or decorating your house from Christian bookstores, it is the principle in these verses that needs careful attention. Just like the previous verses emphasized the importance of teaching others about God and His commands throughout our entire day and everywhere we go, these verses give us another important insight about how we can help invest in the next generation.

As we read Deuteronomy 6:8-9, we see that we are to surround ourselves with God’s Word. Whether we take the verses literally as the the later Israelites did or look at the general principle, we see that we should be intentional about placing God’s Word and reminders of God’s Word all around us. We can do this for those we are investing in as well.

We live in a day and age where the options for Scripture reminders are endless: bookmarks, signs, stickers, bumper stickers, toys, clothing items, jewelry, bags, pillows, and the list goes on. If you can think of it, you can make it or have it made. The number of Scripture themed products that are available with the click of a button seems unending. These can be great tools, but we can even use simple things like post it notes or index cards and make our own Scripture reminders.

The point is, it doesn’t really matter exactly what types of reminders you are using or where all you are putting them. It’s more important that you actually use them. Surround yourself with reminders of God and His Word. Find the reminders that work the best for you. Place them in spots that you will frequently see, and change them up from time to time so they don’t just become a part of your routine background.

As you invest in the next generation, or others in general, and teach them about God and His Word, consider the reminders that might be most helpful for them. Some of the reminders that you use, might be great to share with others, but different types of reminders might work better for others as well. If you know someone who likes to draw, you might suggest that they consider making their own artwork as reminders. If someone spends a lot of time in the car,  helping them find reminders to put in that location can be good. Do they like jewelry? Do they read a lot? Do they spend a lot of time looking in the mirror? Is a lot of their time spent in the kitchen? Once again, the sky is the limit. The options are only limited by your imagination, but getting to know those you are investing in will help you figure out how to best help them surround themselves with reminders of God and His Word.

We talk a lot about wonder on this website. The name of the website is even Discerning Wonder. It’s hard to talk about wonder without thinking about children. Children, especially young children, seem to naturally live in world filled with wonder. Maybe that’s partially why Jesus said “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Children clearly have a special place in the kingdom, and in many ways we can learn a lot from them. Children’s ministry plays an important role in churches and ministry in general. I know that not everyone agrees with that, and there are a lot of different perspectives on how children and children’s ministry should be done in churches. This month’s book review comes from an older book, but one that I believe has valuable information for the church, ministry leaders, and parents still today.

The book, Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, was originally written by George Barna in 2003. It was based on research from the Barna Group. Through various studies and research, Barna shares that generally by the age of 13 our spiritual identity is already in place. While children are growing and developing by leaps and bounds through about age 9. After 13, most of their foundations and worldview are in place, and it becomes very difficult to change it later in life. He states that “If you want to shape a person’s life—whether you are most concerned about his or her moral, spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional or economic development—it is during these crucial eight years that lifelong habits, values, beliefs and attitudes are formed.”

Barna doesn’t just rely on research, but also dives into Scripture to examine biblical examples of how much children matter to God. Reminding readers through Scripture that children are a gift from God, that they need to be taught how to think and act in God’s ways, that they are valuable to God and He desires a relationship with them, and more, he lays a foundation for the importance of teaching children. He sums up these reminders saying, “Jesus’ teaching in the opening verses of Matthew 18 suggests that if we, as parents and counselors to the young, lose our interest in and sensitivity to children, we have shirked one of the most important duties given by God to humankind.”

He laments the lack of priority that so many parents, church leaders, and church members place on training children. Barna says that, “I have been discouraged to discover that most American adults—including most parents—see spiritual development of children as a value-added proposition rather than the single most-important aspect of children’s development.” He does not leave things in this discouraging place though. He gives examples of ways to begin teaching children a biblical worldview and train them to be spiritual champions. He encourages readers reminding them that “If you want to have a lasting influence upon the world, you must invest in people’s lives; and if you want to maximize that investment, then you must invest in those people while they are young.”

Teaching children about Jesus, introducing them to Him and how He wants them to live is important not just for parents, not just for children’s ministry leaders, but for the church as a whole. God’s direction to teach his commands to the next generations in Deuteronomy weren’t given just to the parents, though they play a primary role in the task, but they were given to the whole community of Israel. Likewise, as believers we all bear responsibility for teaching the next generations. This can come in many forms, but we all need to appreciate and embrace the importance of training our children to be spiritual champions, and this book is a helpful tool to do just that.

We are currently in the middle of a series about the Wonder of Discernment. So far we’ve talked about the importance of taking time to slow down and spend time with God to seek discernment, putting it into practice, and training our discernment. Just looking at that can seem a little daunting, but there is good news. We don’t have to do it alone. In fact, we can’t do it in our own power. We need the Spirit to help us.


In 1 Corinthians 2:12-14, Paul was explaining to the church at Corinth:


“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”


True discernment comes from God and our understanding comes from Him as well. So to grow in our discernment means spending time with Him and listening to Him.


I love the words that Paul uses in verse twelve, “so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” He has given to us freely. He wants us to understand and then share what we have so freely been given. The Spirit is God’s gift to help us understand. If you want to learn more about this great gift from God, please check out the series of articles on the Holy Spirit on this website. There are so many great blessings that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives, but this aspect of His giving us understanding and discernment is definitely one of the more wonderful ones.


The Spirit illuminates the Word of God in our lives and helps us to understand God in new ways. As Paul described it He gives us not “words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” Sometimes as we exercise discernment we find ourselves thinking or saying something and wondering “how do I know that?” or “where did that come from?”.  As a believer, our discernment comes through God. The Spirit helps us to understand and gives us words when we don’t have them.


If you find yourself struggling with discernment, go back to where we started in the first article in this series: slow down and spend time with God seeking discernment. He is the source. The Spirit will help us understand and discern. That can’t happen if we aren’t spending time with Him. The more we dwell with Him, the more we will Wonder in Him and He will equip us to Wonder in the Discernment given by Him.

This week we are continuing our series about the importance of investing in others, especially younger generations. Last week we talked about beginning that investment by making sure our faith and relationship with God is something worth passing on to others. We took a close look at Deuteronomy 6:4-6 which says:

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”

Today, we are going to be taking a look at the next verse in this passage. In verse 7, it says:

“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

In many ways, last week was the “what “of investing in the coming generations. The “what” is faith and a relationship with God. Now we are starting to get into the how, or maybe more specifically the when, of this investing. How do we invest in others, especially in the next generations? How do I make time for that in my busy schedule? When do I teach? Do I need to be in a classroom or teaching a Bible lesson? Do I force people to sit and listen?

This verse helps us to answer all of those questions and more. The direction we see in Deuteronomy 6:7 is that we talk about and teach these things all the time as we go about our day together in relationship. The verse says that they were to talk about these things with their sons when they were sitting in the house, when they were out walking somewhere, when they were going to bed at night, and when they woke up in the morning. That pretty much covers all day wherever they were. 

As you read that verse, you might be saying that’s great but I don’t have kids or maybe that your kids are grown and out of the house. That’s alright because the principles that we see in this verse still apply to each and every one of our lives no matter what stage of life we are in or what circumstances we face. At the time Moses was speaking to the men of Israel, their primary relationships were with their families, specifically their sons. Our lives and culture today look different at times, but the command to share our faith with others and the principles for how to do it are still valid. 

While it is imperative that parents teach their children about God, we can and should do the same with anyone we are walking alongside in life. As this verse demonstrates it’s not necessarily something that we need to go out of our way to make time for and it doesn’t have to be some formal Bible lesson, not that there is anything wrong with that at times. Instead, this verse is challenging us to make the most of every moment. There are teachable moments happening all around us everyday, everywhere we are, and in everyday conversations. We need to begin to ask God for wisdom and sensitivity to recognize these moments. Whether it’s a child or senior adult or anyone in between, there are moments that come up in conversations and sharing life together where we can teach, remind, encourage, or talk about who God is, His commands, or how we love Him or trust Him. God will provide moments each and everyday. It’s our job to recognize them and be faithful to follow through with them. 

So, who will you be with today when you’re sitting in your house, school, office, or a waiting room? Who will be with you when you’re out for a walk, driving around, or on a bus? Who will you be on the phone with, FaceTiming or texting with? As you go about your day, wherever you go or whatever you do recognize who God has placed in your life. Then keep your ears and eyes open for the opportunities He is giving you to use the normal everyday things of life to talk about Him and His principles as you share His love with those around you.

We are currently in the middle of a series about the Wonder of Discernment. So far we’ve talked about the importance of taking time to slow down and spend with God to seek discernment and putting it into practice as well.  This week we will be talking about the value of training our discernment.

In Hebrews 5:12-14, the believers were being challenged about the maturity of their faith:

“For 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. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

The author of Hebrews was really chastising these Hebrew believers for their lack of spiritual maturity. He indicates that those who are mature in their faith have practiced training their senses with discernment. Discernment is kind of like a muscle. The more we exercise it the stronger it grows. While discernment can be a spiritual gift, meaning that some people have been spiritually gifted with stronger discernment muscles, it is something that all believers are called to exercise. We all need to be able to discern good and evil and be able to use discernment, but we get better at it through practice. We need to train ourselves.

When it comes to exercise, I know there are some people who really love to exercise. For many of us though, it’s not something we necessarily love to do. We may have learned to love the outcome and benefits. We may just know that it’s something that will benefit us. That knowledge might be enough to motivate us to put in the time and effort to exercise and train our muscles and body. The same might be said of training our discernment. It might not always be enjoyable at first, but we are called to do it. The more we understand the importance of discernment the more likely we are to begin to exercise it. Eventually, with consistent exercise we begin to actually experience the value of having strong discernment. This in turn can motivate us to exercise it more.

There is another important parallel in the example of exercising our muscles. When we put work into training and developing our muscles, we grow stronger and we need to be wise in how we put that strength to work. We can use our strength to help others or we can use our new found strength to hurt other people. Unfortunately the same can be true as we train and develop our discernment muscles. We can use our discernment to help others, or we can turn our discernment into something hurtful and condemning. It goes back to the idea that our discernment must be rooted and practiced in love.

So how do we train our discernment? To find the answer to that we can look back at the verses from Hebrews 5 and consider the milk versus solid food analogy. To train our discernment we need to be growing in the Word. Just like a baby goes from milk to soft foods like cereal and purees to increasingly solid foods, we must go from learning basic spiritual truths to deeper and more substantial study of God and His Word.

I also find it interesting that these verses start off with them being told that they should already be teachers instead of having someone “again” teach them the “elementary principles” of God. If all we are doing is going to church on Sunday morning expecting someone to “feed us” spiritual nourishment to last us for the week, we are not practicing our discernment or growing. Practicing discernment and getting to solid food means going deeper than any preacher can go in twenty to forty minutes on a Sunday. We need a steady diet of increasingly solid food.

Instead of still being continually fed the basics, they should have been teaching others by this point. While you need to have some discernment in place to be teaching, interestingly enough the act of teaching itself helps to train your discernment even more. There is a famous quote from Aristotle that says, “Teaching is the highest form of understanding.” When you teach others something you have learned, or are learning, it helps you to understand it even better. Last Thursday, we started a series on the importance of investing in others, especially the next generation. So often Christians are hesitant to share their faith or teach others, formally or informally. Yet, in these verses we see that at a certain point we should be doing exactly that. Instead of waiting to feel like we’re “ready” or “equipped” or “know enough” to be talking to, or teaching, others, at some point we need to just try it. We will never really grow our muscles of discernment until we begin using them.

This week we are beginning a new Thursday series about the importance of investing in others, especially younger generations. As we dive into this new series, we will be starting by taking a close look at Deuteronomy 6:1-13.

In this passage in Deuteronomy, Moses has gathered the young nation of Israel and is reminding them of what God has done for them and the commands that He has given to them. He is explaining what they need to be doing as they prepare and enter the Promised Land. He begins this part by saying:

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.’”
Deuteronomy 6:1-6

We see in these verses that there is a clear plan that the commands of God and living a life devoted to God are to be passed down from generation to generation. In order to do that though, God and His commands need to be fully embraced by “you”. Although the generations are mentioned, Moses is speaking to and giving these directions and reminders to the generation standing right in front of Him. The same is true of us today. We can’t pass the responsibility off to someone older or someone younger or someone with little kids or older kids or grandkids or whatever other ideas we have of who this applies to. If you are reading these words, then this applies to you. If you still have the eyesight and comprehension to read these words, it applies to you. If you’ve just learned to read and comprehend, it applies to you too. There are always people younger than us or people who have not learned and grown in God as much as we have. Those people need to hear and be taught. They need people to invest in them and help them grow in fearing the Lord our God. They need you.

So, now that we’ve established that you are needed to invest in the lives of others including the next generations where do you start? You start where this passage starts, specifically in verses 4-6 we see:

“‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.’”

These verses are so important that they formed the foundation a prayer, the Shema, recited twice a day by Jews beginning more than a hundred years before the birth of Jesus. They were considered to represent the core of their faith: an understanding of who God is, a call to love Him with everything in us, and a call to keep His commands. This is where we start. We can’t pass on a faith that we don’t really have. To invest in others and share God’s love we need to be embracing that love and faith ourselves.

We start by placing our own trust in God. If you’ve never done that, please find someone to talk to about how you do that. You can even reach out through our website and I’d be happy to discuss that with you. Choosing to follow God and make him Lord of our lives is where we start, but then we face the day-by-day, moment-by-moment choices to love Him will all our heart, soul, and might. In other words, choosing to have a loving relationship with the Mighty God. This means spending time with Him, listening to Him, talking to Him, getting to know Him, seeking His advice and direction, and serving Him. This might sound like a lot, but take a moment to think of the best relationship in your life, maybe with a spouse, a friend or someone else. You probably do, or have done, all of these things and more in that relationship. Loving God means investing in that relationship just like any other good relationship requires.

A relationship with God is different from other relationships though. It is a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. As I’ve frequently explained to kids before, God created everything so that means He knows how it works best. Because He knows how it works best, He set up rules so that we know how to get the most enjoyment from it. That is why in Deuteronomy 6:6 He says, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” Part of our relationship with God is understanding His guidelines and commands. They aren’t to limit us or punish us, but because He loves us so much and wants the best for us. When we can truly accept that, it makes it easier to desire to keep His commands on our heart. Once they are there, we can share them with others in love as well.

I hope you will continue to join me throughout this series on investing the next generations. As you begin to consider the importance of this, I hope that the verses we have read today encourage you to start wherever you are and make sure that you have a relationship with God worth sharing with others.

Last week we started a series about the Wonder of Discernment. We mentioned the importance of taking time to slow down and spend with God to seek discernment. This may be where we start, but the Wonder of Discernment doesn’t end there.

Giving ourselves space to seek God and ask for discernment, and time to think and discern is a great starting place. If we just think about things though, recognize and observe and seek wisdom, we aren’t actually practicing discernment. There is a difference between being discerning and practicing discernment. I can know the wise thing is but if I don’t actually choose to do it, then I’m not really being discerning. It’s like a child who knows the right thing to do but doesn’t do it, or the parent or leader who says, or implies, do as I say and not as I do. In each case discernment is not being used.

In Philippians 1:9-10, Paul encouraged those in the church at Philippi, and us today, with these words:

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ”

There are several important things that we see in Paul’s prayer for the believers in these verses.

First, that knowledge and discernment work together. They work best with one another. It is possible to have knowledge without discernment, but knowledge without discernment isn’t nearly as useful, helpful or practical. At times it might be possible to have some discernment without knowledge, but knowledge can definitely help strengthen and equip for discernment. Together though, discernment helps to filter and apply knowledge. Basically, we don’t want to just try to stuff ourselves with knowledge and think that will solve everything, but we also don’t want to bury our heads in the sand and say I’ll just ask God for discernment and everything will be fine. Instead we should continue to grow in knowledge while seeking understanding and discernment to apply the knowledge in ways that honor and glorify God and His purpose.

We also see in these verses that discernment is a loving action. Paul prayed that their love would abound in knowledge and discernment. When we get these out of order, things start to go haywire. When our knowledge abounds and that is what is driving us, we can tend to get puffed up. It begins to get easy to lose the perspective of love and instead become condescending or even bullying with our knowledge. Likewise, if discernment is abounding and driving us instead of love, we can easily become judgmental and condemning. Both knowledge and discernment are to be aspects of our abounding love through God. Letting love fuel or drive us, knowledge and discernment can then help guide us and others in ways that are helpful and not hurtful, ways that demonstrate the love of God and principles of truth in love.

Paul also gives us a reason for the importance of this discernment: “so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless.” As we can see when we get things out of the perspective of love, even great things like discernment can become problems. When we keep these in the order that they should be, discernment practiced in abounding love enables us to live the lives that God is calling us to. Lives that honor and glorify and Him, and lives that that reflect His image to those around us.

Discernment is an important aspect of our Christian witness or testimony. It is important for us as believers, as people, and as leaders. Discernment practiced in love sets us apart in a beautiful way. This is God’s plan for us as we follow Him, and it is something that the world around us needs desperately to see.

In last week’s article we start talking about some of the many things that the Holy Spirit does. This week we are concluding this series by taking a look at some of the many things that the Holy Spirit does in us and with us.

This first one might be the most important it because without it the rest of the work that the Holy Spirit does in us wouldn’t really be possible or effective. We know that the Holy Spirit abides in us and is with us forever. In John 14:16-17 Jesus says:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

As He abides with us, He is also pouring out the love of God in us. We see this in Romans 5:5 where it says:

“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Through that love of God, the Holy Spirit transforms us giving us a new heart and spirit, bringing fruit in our lives.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
(2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
(Galatians 5:22-25)

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
(Ezekiel 36:26-28)

As we see in the verses from Ezekiel, the Holy Spirit teaches and guides us reminding us of the Word and causing us to follow Jesus and obey Him. We also see this in John 14:26 in the words of Jesus:

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

There are so many ways that Holy Spirit helps us. He intercedes for us and He helps in our weakness. In Romans 8:26-27, Paul describes it this way:
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Not only does the Holy Spirit help us in our weakness, but He also gives us power. He powers our hope and empowers us to witness.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
(Romans 15:13)

“He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”
(Acts 1:7-8)

He will do all this and more, but like Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5-8, we must be born of the Spirit.

“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit’”

So, as we wrap up this series about the Wonder of the Holy Spirit, my first challenge to you is this: if you’ve never done what Jesus said to Nicodemus and been born of the Spirit by choosing to believe in Jesus then please talk to someone about doing that today. If there is no one else in your life that you can do that with, then reach out to me via the contact form on the website.

If you have been born of the Spirit, then you know that the He dwells in you forever. We are blessed to have His Spirit in us doing all of the things we have discussed today. Take sometime to thank God for who the Holy Spirit is in you and what He has done and continues to do. What a gift!    

We have featured several articles talking about the Wonder aspect of Discerning Wonder, but for the next few Mondays we are going to be exploring the importance of discernment. When you look up the definition of discernment, it is the ability to perceive or recognize someone or something. Having discernment is important in so many parts of our life.

The author of Proverbs actually emphasized the importance of this as well when he said:

“My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.” (Proverbs 3:21-24 NLT)

I have heard many people make comments like “Common sense seems to be in short supply these days” or “It really seems like people don’t have common sense anymore” or even asking “What’s happened to common sense?” As much as it seems like this might be a new sign of our times, it really isn’t. As a very young child I remember hearing people describe others as “not having enough sense to come in out of the rain” and other such things. This is unfortunately a common aspect in life at times.

As much as we hear people talk about and lament an apparent lack of common sense, we don’t really hear as much discussion of discernment. In some ways common sense and discernment go hand in hand, but discernment goes even a little further. While common sense involves recognizing and applying seemingly basic truths and principles, discernment means being able to recognize or perceive deeper truths and understanding. You might say that common sense requires slowing down enough to think before you speak or act, but discernment requires slowing down enough to take time to observe, reflect, evaluate, learn from the past and recognize and apply important patterns and principles.

Maybe that’s why it often seems that common sense is lacking and why we barely even mention discernment. Both require us to slow down a bit. The world around us is so fast-paced. It seems like everyone is in a hurry, and there are so many things demanding our attention, so many things we feel like we need to get done. In our rush and hurry and fast-paced world, are we losing some important things? Jesus modeled the idea of slowing down for us in so many places in the Bible, including in Luke 5:15-16 where it says:

“But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

It seems like the busier things got, the more Jesus would take time to slip away into the quiet and pray. That is itself a demonstration of discernment. We know the importance and benefits of rest, but with a lack of discernment we ignore it. We know the importance of time with God and learning to rely on Him and dwell in Him, but with a lack of discernment we ignore that too. Jesus was busy. Crowds were demanding attention. Disciples needed to be taught. Ministry needed to talk place. He had an important mission and a short amount of time, but Jesus had discernment. He knew that to accomplish what needed to be accomplished He needed rest, but more importantly He needed time with the Father so He could know and do the Father’s will.

If Jesus needed this, how much more so do we?  Being discerning begins by stopping long enough to take time to rest and dwell in God’s presence. In doing that we can begin to ask Him for guidance and discernment. When we are rested and pause to seeking God’s wisdom, we are in a much better position to begin to really see things in a way that allows us to exercise discernment.

You might be like me, and none of this sounds really new to you. We know that this is what we should be doing, but we still find it hard to actually find the time to slow down so we can dwell with God. Depending on the season of life we’re in, it can be really challenging to find the time and we might even worry about what will happen if we stop for a few minutes, but I want us to take a careful look at those verses from Proverbs 3 that we started out with:

“My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.”

Do you see what we’re told happens when we choose to do what it takes to hang onto common sense and discernment? “They will refresh your soul.” “They keep you safe.” You won’t be so anxious as you try to fall asleep, and you will be able to sleep better.

Sometimes choosing to take time to do the hard, seemingly impossible, things are what set us up to be in a better place. My prayer for you today is that you will be able to discern ways to find moments with God and seek His discernment in your life.