Philippians: Shine Like Stars – DAY 14
Family Discussions for a New School Year
Paul’s prayers differ from the average. Let’s join him in praying for discernment for ourselves & our fellow believers.
[This discussion can be read aloud in 6 min.!]
*This is DAY 14. Click here for 1-13.
DAY 14/TUESDAY
Philippians 1:9-11
Able to Discern
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)
Q & A
Q: Why did Paul pray that the love of the Philippian believers would abound more & more in knowledge & depth of insight?
A: So that they might be…
- able to discern what is best;
- pure & blameless for the day of Christ.
Able to Discern
What is discernment?
discern:
| to recognize or identify as separate and distinct : discriminate |
| to see or understand the difference |
discernment:
| the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure : skill in discerning | merriam-webster.com |
| a power to see what is not evident to the average mind (like insight) that stresses accuracy | merriam-webster.com (Choose the Right Synonym) |
To be able to discern what is best, as Paul prays, you have to be able to see differences in the choices presented to you. In seeing the differences, you also must be able to identify which choice is better or best.
Mockers & Fools Don’t Have It
“The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.”
Proverbs 14:6 (NIV)
A mocker is one who treats others with contempt or ridicule and enjoys defying & challenging anything (merriam-webster.com). A person who lives the lifestyle of a mocker cannot find true wisdom when they seek it because they are too busy living in opposition to everyone & everything.
Those who are discerning, however, approach life in such a way that the knowledge they seek comes easily to them. They live with their eyes wide open to recognize & identify differences and to grasp & comprehend what is hard to see at first glance.
The mocker cannot choose wisely because everything’s the same to him: just something else to be mocked.
“The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.”
Proverbs 15:14 (NIV)
A fool is a person who lacks good sense. Why? They don’t practice using sense! They enjoy the ridiculous and that is what they pursue — they feed on foolishness.
People with discerning hearts seek knowledge, not foolishness. They want to know, learn, and grow.
“A discerning person keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.”
Proverbs 17:24 (NIV)
One who is discerning is on the lookout for wise choices. Foolish people keep looking & looking & looking for silliness, expecting it to satisfy them.
“A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool.”
Proverbs 17:10 (NIV)
People who have discernment are not perfect. They still need correction at times, but they welcome it. When they are in the wrong, they want to know.
Fools make more mistakes and are punished more frequently because of it, but they do not benefit from being corrected because they don’t want anyone to tell them they’re wrong.
“The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction.”
Proverbs 16:21 (NIV)
Discerning people are not just wise in their minds, but also in their hearts. They don’t make choices based solely on what’s good for them or what they want; they make moral choices to do what’s right because it’s right.
You can’t live as a mocker or a fool and become discerning.
It’s also true that you can’t discern spiritual things without the Holy Spirit.
If You Have the Holy Spirit, You Can Discern
Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians about the discernment that only comes through the Holy Spirit.
“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.”
I Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
There are people in the world who have discernment and are not Christians; however, non-Christians do not have spiritual discernment.
If someone doesn’t have the Holy Spirit in them, truth that comes from the Spirit seems like foolishness to them. It doesn’t make sense to them, because only the Holy Spirit can make sense of the things of God.
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12What 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. 13This 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. 14The 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. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16for,
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct Him?’ (Isaiah 40:13)But we have the mind of Christ.”
I Corinthians 2:10,11-16 (NIV)
As Christians, we have the ability to not only have discernment about the things of this world, but also about the things of God, because of His Holy Spirit within us.
Back to Paul’s Prayer
Paul prays that the Philippian believers’
“love may abound more & more in knowledge & depth of insight, so that [they] may be able to discern what is best.”
Discerning what is best requires the love, knowledge, & deep insight of Jesus Christ. Because we have His Holy Spirit within us, we have the ability to discern what is best. Like any ability we have, however, we need to exercise it to make the most of it! This, I believe, is the heart of Paul’s prayer.
DAY 14/TUESDAY Prayer
Father God,
Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit within us who gives us the ability to have discernment, so we may make the best choices for now and for eternity.
Help us exercise this ability so that we may think more like Jesus — for “we have the mind of Christ” (I Cor. 2:16).
May our family grow in spiritual discernment as we study Your Word together.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
DAY 14: Paul's prayers differ from the average. One thing he prays for is discernment for the Philippian believers.
