I love to fish. It started early with trips to the lake with my father, using my youth-sized pole. I caught a lot of bluegill, and I still remember my first bass. When, I was twelve, my father became interested in fly fishing. I joined him, and I was hooked (pun intended). I quickly learned, trout are smart. I caught bluegill on lures, worms, cheese, and even once on an empty hook. Trout are not so easily fooled. Choosing the right fly and placing correctly on the stream are a necessity.

I wish I could say that I was more trout-like than I am. Though I am far more discerning than I was, I can still be drawn in by some pretty “cheesy” bait. Something will come come along that catches my attention and without enough thoughtful reflection, I am on the line. Just like fish drawn to artificial lures, I think I know what I will find, only to be disappointed in the end.

Jesus was a master of avoiding the lures of his time. In fact, he saw all bait exactly for what it was… bait. When he was challenged with questions and comments that invited a defensive response, luring him into unhealthy debate, he recognized it, responded accordingly, and stepped away. Sometimes he ignored it or diffused it, but he certainly exposed it.

What an example, and what a lesson! We don’t have to be drawn in to useless debates. We don’t have to react. We don’t have to bite. Our culture keeps tempting us to strike, only leading us to wrestle with each other on the ends of the line. What if, instead of taking the bait, we let the Holy Spirit make us savvy enough to see the difference? What if we used the spiritual gift of discernment to see things for what they are, and avoided the pointless arguments and divisions of our day?

There is great joy found in a peaceful spirit, and great blessing in unity. The world around us will continue to shout for our attention, but when we still our minds and spirits, we will hear the tender voice of God guiding us to reframe the discussion to God’s perspective. Just as it was for Jesus, choosing a godly response will quiet the contentious, and illuminate the path of God’s peace.

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A solid faith is a thinking faith. God blessed us with the gift of reason, and it is a gift that must not remain unused. Reason helps us to apply what we learn, think deeply about our beliefs and experiences, and share the truth with others. As we wrestle through experiences, questions, and doubts, we strengthen our faith, and refine its impact upon our lives.

John Wesley believed that Scripture was sufficient unto itself, and the foundation of true religion. Yet, he understood the value of reason. He said, “Now, of what excellent use is reason, if we would either understand ourselves, or explain to others, those living oracles.” Rather than merely memorizing truths and doctrine, he encouraged people of faith to reflect deeply and grow in their understanding.

Over the course of my ministry, numerous people have inquired about the best way to get around doing the study and thinking for themselves. One person was even quite straightforward in their request, “I really don’t want to think about all this, ” they said, “Can’t you just tell me what to believe and do?” I don’t think they liked my answer, but loving leadership does not just tell people all the answers. We need to engage our faith in thoughtful ways in order to truly understand it, and live it.

Yesterday, I was blessed to have lunch with a friend and colleague. He and I hold many things in common, but we also see some things quite differently. During our conversation, we engaged some significant issues. Rather than argue our positions in an attempt to convince the other, we shared our thoughts and positions in order for both of us to grow in our understanding. I am still unpacking some of the powerful things he said, and will be for some time. His words drove me back to Scripture, Tradition, and my experience, causing me to reason through some things I strongly believe. I may discover that I need to adjust my position, or I may better understand, and express, what I already believe. Either way, reasoning together, and on my own, will be worth the effort.

This leads to an important point. Incorporating reason in our spiritual discernment involves more than just our own thoughts. We need to listen to, and engage, the reasoning of others. While our faith is deeply personal, it is never private. We are a community of faith, and each person has something of great value to bring to the discussion. We need to value others, even those who radically disagree with us, so that together, we can discern the will of God.

A final thought worth consideration is that our reasoning is not just about our human abilities. Christian reason is always assisted by the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (14:26) Truth faith is not of our own making, it is grounded in the revelation of God. To rightly reason regarding God’s involves a harmony of my thoughts, the thoughts of the community of faith, and the instruction of the Holy Spirit.

A Bonus Note

While the heart of the discernment process involves these four steps, Wesley did include a final step in his practice as a litmus test of our insight. Knowing that we can travel down wrong paths, even with the best of intentions, he encouraged taking our discoveries and testing their agreement with Scripture. Since the Bible is the foundation for true religion, any revelation we receive must remain consistent with the teaching of Scripture. Just as we must check our math after solving a problem, so we must check our theological discovery against the word before we accept it. We may find that we reasoned well, or we may need to revisit the process to discover where we went off track. Either way, we will continue to grow though our reflection, our conversations, and our listening to the Holy Spirit.

May your weekend be blessed, and your days ahead, as you grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.

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Incorporating experience into our discernment process is much more than merely deciding what we want to be true, or what we think Scripture says on a particular subject. Rather, it is adding the knowledge each of us accumulates to the mix, along with the stories and key moments that shape our lives. This allows us to ask good questions of our interpretation of Scripture and to rightly examine our experiences, allowing the Holy Spirit to use these sources to guide us in our beliefs and actions.

Some Cautions with Experience

Our experiences can be wrong, or at least, misinterpreted. We may think our view of the world is correct, but sometimes our lens is skewed and things are not exactly as they seem. This happens frequently on social media. We read posts or comments, convinced we understand what they mean, only to find out that we misread, or misinterpreted, the words we read. We may be sure that someone is angry with us, only to discover that is far from the truth. Of course, it can go the other way as well.

We also see this concern play out in bigger ways as posts are made by those we trust, and reposted by others declaring something to be true. We may be so sure of our source that we post them as well, only to fact check later and discover we are all in error. These near daily occurrences should give us caution when we are assessing our experiences. We must always be open to the truth that our view of our experiences could be wrong.

Our world is not the whole world. It is important to incorporate not only our own experience in our discernment process, but the perspectives of others, especially those who do not see things our way. This may be difficult at times, but the result is worth the effort.

As a pastor, I frequently have church members who will approach me on an issue saying, “Everyone feels this way.” When I press them on who they spoke with, we soon discover that “everybody” is only their family, or just their circle of friends. This does not necessarily mean that their perspective is wrong, but it does mean that it is not fully informed. Incorporating experience goes beyond our thoughts and stories, to include those of others.

Emotions can help and hurt our understanding. Our emotional experience can be a great blessing in discernment. How we feel about something can be a revelation in itself. If a path doesn’t feel right, we may need to be careful before we proceed, or if we feel positive about something, it may be the Holy Spirit encouraging us to move forward. Of course, our emotions can be shaped by things other than the Spirit. Our fears and frustrations can discourage us from that the right path, and our passions can lead us to places we never wanted, or intended to go. Sober judgement is certainly called for when we examine our emotions.

While there are some cautions to consider when we engage our experiences, there are many blessings as well.

Blessings of Experience

We learned it for a reason. Our life is more than just a series of random experiences. If we believe that, “the steps of a righteous person are ordered by the Lord,” (Psalm 37:23) then we must believe that our experiences have a God-ordained purpose. They shape us and our understanding to prepare us for future decisions and discernment. We should never discount our experiences. We may need to learn to rightly understand them, but they are a valuable gift from God.

Experience makes it personal. It is all too easy to have lofty thoughts and ideas, but the real “rubber meets the road” of the Christian life is understanding the impact of our theology and beliefs on our actions, on our witness for Christ, and on how we treat others. While the “What Would Jesus Do” movement often seemed to go a little overboard, the question is still of great importance. Knowing what we know from Scripture and Tradition, asking what God wants us to “do” with that insight central to our faith walk. It is all too easy to “know what is right” and yet, live wrongly.

Application helps us understand. I love to fly fish, and I love to read about fly fishing. I can assure you, there is an amazing difference between knowing how to fish, and fishing. All of the book learning is helpful, but putting it into practice teaches what no book ever could. Likewise, our experience of putting Scripture and Tradition into practice refines our understanding. Even our mistakes and failures help us better understand the truths we live by, and refine the way we put them into practice along our journey.

Scripture, Tradition, and experience all inform our discernment process. Tomorrow, we will see how God’s gift of reason helps us bring these sources together. Until then, seek God in your circumstances and discover what the Holy Spirit is saying to you through them.

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It might seem that, if traditions are flexible in some way, that focusing on tradition would not be a solid source for discerning God’s will. This is quite true if by “tradition” we mean the practices we accept as normal, and meaningful, but when we talk about Tradition in discernment, we are speaking of something much more stable and powerful. Tradition, in our quest, is much more than just, “the way we’ve always done it.” Instead, we are looking at how the Christian Church across history has understood and applied biblical truth to the issues we face.

For our purposes, we are asking how the early church understood the teaching of Jesus and the rest of Scripture, along with how the church maintained its theology and mission across many centuries. In this case, tradition does not refer to personal, familial, or regional practices. Instead, the goal is to connect with the larger Christian Tradition that forms the foundation upon which we build our theology and practice.

Why is Tradition important in discernment? Consider these points:

Closer to the Original is Better

Maybe you played the Telephone Game at some time. The game involves putting people in a circle. The first person says something quietly into the ear of the person next to them, then that person does the same until the comment makes its way around the circle. Typically, the final words are quite different than the words originally spoken.

In a similar way, the closer we can get to the time when Scripture was written and theology formed, the more accurate our understanding of what the original words and ideas meant in the their context. We can have a much greater confidence in the interpretation of the Bible and church theology as we listen to the voices closest to the original.

In order to discern God’s direction, we must consult the voices of the early Christian mothers and fathers, for in them we find a clearer, more accurate understanding.

Consistency is Valuable

While the value of the early voices of the Christian community cannot be stated strongly enough, there is also is also great significance in the way the Church consistently expressed, and practiced, its theology. After we examine the teaching of Scripture and consider the interpretation of the early community of faith, we should also look at how that interpretation was maintained across 2000 of Christian history. When we see biblical teaching reinforced by the early faith community, and consistently maintained in the centuries to follow, we can more clearly discern God’s direction, and have more confidence in the direction we take. As Gordon Fee said, in his book How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, “Unique interpretations are usually wrong.”

Many Issues were Already Addressed

When we investigate the teaching of our Tradition, we often discover that many of the issues we wrestle with were already deeply considered and addressed. Too frequently, modern Christians struggle with discernment on issues that have already been answered. Just as education does not require us to relearn, or prove again, what we already know to be true, so our life of faith does not require us to readdress the foundations of our faith and theology

Can you imagine the frustration you would experience if you had to prove your math tables every time you wanted to pay for something, or make change? It would be exhausting, and unnecessary! We accept that these foundations have already been addressed and have no need to be challenged again and again.

In the same way, the Church has already addressed many aspects of our faith and theology, and we can safely accept that foundation in our spiritual discernment. A good, modern example is how we understand what Christians often refer to as the Old Testament. Frequently, I hear people say that the Hebrew Bible no longer has an influence over our Christian life, or that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God of the New Testament. These are bold assumptions and thankfully, they were already addressed.

In the year 144, Marcion of Sinope put forth his theology stating that he believed in Jesus Christ was sent by God as the Messiah, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible, and believed that the God of the Old Testament was a lesser god, and not the God of the New Testament. After much consideration and debate, the sound minds of the early church denounced Marcion’s position as heresy, restating the deep connections between the Christian witness and that of the Hebrew Bible, and reaffirming that the God of the Hebrew Bible was indeed, the same God found in Jesus and in the teaching of the early biblical writers.

When such claims are put forth in our modern day, we can say with confidence, that these issues have already been addressed and there is no need to reinvent the wheel by defending the faith against them once again.

Tradition is not infallible, but when layered upon the truth of Scripture, we have an even stronger foundation from which to discern God’s will. Tomorrow, we will turn our attention to the third layer of this process: our experience. Until then, may the cloud of witnesses that went before us, and surrounds us, help shine light upon your path.

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Within the Wesleyan tradition, we are blessed by a methodology handed down to us by John Wesley, but actually rooted in the entire course of Christian history and theology. While it is called the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral.” the steps are quite easy to grasp. They include Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason. When faithfully applied, these steps build upon a strong foundation and yield something beautiful in the end. Like layers of a cake, each rests upon the strength of the former, producing a solid structure in all. The process begins with Scripture.

Our first question in the discernment process is, “What does the Bible say?” Unfortunately, many people wrongfully buy into the idea that we cannot know what Scripture says, or that what we find is relative, merely our own interpretation of what it means, therefore, it is impossible to discover God’s will in the pages of our holy book. Others argue the teachings found there are outdated; out of touch with our modern world. Beyond these concerns, some suggest that we simply pick and choose which scriptures we like, and twist them to suit our needs. Each of these, and other, concerns are rooted in observed misuses of Scripture, but because such abuses are engaged in by some, does not negate the value, nor the effectiveness, of the Bible to guide our lives. We need only abide by good practices as we engage the word of God to discover the heart of God, and the direction of God.

Healthy Practices for Biblical Discernment

Discover what the Bible actually says. It is easy to decide what we want the Scripture to say and then find verses to support our preconceived ideas. The real work of discernment, however, requires us to set those preconceptions aside and actually let the text speak for itself. Biblical discernment is not about forcing our ideas into the pages of the Bible, it is about allowing the biblical word to find its way into us. We are to come to the Scripture teachable; open to what the Holy Spirit will reveal to us  We must always be willing to admit we were wrong, or only partially correct, and let the Bible speak for itself.

Discover the full teaching of the Scripture. It is not enough to look at a verse here, or a verse there, nor can we separate the verses from their context. Simply looking up a word in the Bible may give us a good start, but that cannot be the end. There are other related words and themes to examine, and it is necessary to examine how the whole word speaks to the issue, specifically and generally.

A good example here is the recent emphasis on Jesus’ commands to love. Loving God, one another, and our neighbor are significant commands of our Savior and we must address them with the utmost sincerity. In many places, the modern Church fails to represent and extend the love of God. Embracing Jesus’ call to love in his name is of great importance, but what does loving like Jesus look like?

We might be tempted to believe that Jesus teaches us to love how we want to love, or how we want to be loved. We might interpret his words to look like a form of the sentimentality we see expressed in movies and represented in our culture, but to understand what love meant to Jesus, we must look at the whole of his life to see the way in which divine love is expressed through him. This will include the great sacrificial love expressed in his death and resurrection. It will also include his compassion for those who reached out to him, and his willingness to care for those often rejected by society. However, we will also need to include his willingness to turn over the tables of the money changers, his aggressive comments toward the Pharisees, and his call to a deeper life of holiness in the Sermon on the Mount. Defining love in Jesus’ terms involves examining the full teaching of his life and witness, and so it is with any aspect of our Christian journey.

Discover the difficult passages. It is easy to fixate on one part of Scripture, usually the part we like, and ignore challenging sections and passages. While the Bible is a collection of many writings, they are all equally important to our quest. We may be tempted to dismiss what we call the Old Testament because of its age, or because we believe it is no longer relevant in light of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, yet this was the very Scripture Jesus used, quoted, and lived by. We may want to focus solely on the Gospels, but the other New Testament writings expand our understanding of Jesus’ teaching. We may even want to focus only on our favorite Gospel, but the four work to give us a more holistic view of Jesus, his ministry, and his teaching. We must not discount any portion of Scripture, but rather, let it all inform our understanding.

When we apply these principles, we will uncover a greater revelation of God’s direction, and we will lay a solid foundation for the rest of our discernment. Tomorrow, our attention will turn to the importance and power of Tradition to refine our biblical discoveries, and to give us clearer spiritual eyes to assess our experiences and discern God’s will. Until then, let the Word of God speak.

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