God has given us the gospel in trust. He has deposited it to our account and expects that we will guard this priceless, precious treasure. God has entrusted to us something of infinite worth and unsurpassed beauty. He has not left us to our own devices, but he has provided for us the Holy Spirit, that with his help we may be faithful in guarding the gospel of Jesus Christ. Spiritual discernment allows us to keep the gospel central and allows us to see and guard against error. Spiritual discernment is absolutely crucial to the one who would understand and heed the gospel. Nothing less than the gospel is at stake.

THE CALL

As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, King Solomon knew the importance of discernment. The early verses of Proverbs are a call for both wisdom and discernment:

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God. (Prov. 2:1–5)

We are to incline our hearts to discernment and to cry out for it. We should desire spiritual maturity, spiritual growth, and spiritual life. We can only have these wonderful benefits if we have discernment. We serve a God who stands ready and willing to bestow this gift upon those who seek after it.

Proverbs 2 is a father’s call to his son to embrace and treasure discernment. There are few things that are as important, as precious, as spiritual discernment. The Bible cries for you to seek after it so you can live, so you can grow, and so you can mature in your faith. Will you answer the call?

KEY THOUGHT

The Bible teaches there is a clear relationship between spiritual discernment and spiritual maturity. For a Christian to be mature, he must also be discerning. Those who are not discerning must be immature, backsliding, or dead. Conversely, those who exhibit discernment must be alive, growing, and mature. It is clear from Scripture that all Christians are expected to pursue discernment, for the Bible cries out repeatedly for us to do so. It is the responsibility of each Christian to heed and to answer the call and so to guard the deposit God has entrusted to us.

¹C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: 1 and 2 Kings & 1 and 2 Chronicles (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1866), 31.
²Phillip Hughes, Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1977), 189.
³Richard Phillips, Hebrews (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2006), 177.
⁴I am indebted to pastor Phillip Way for his series of articles called “Learn to Discern”
(http:// pastorway.blogspot.com/2006/06/failing-to-discern.html). 
⁵Phillip Way, “Failing to Discern” (http://pastorway.blogspot.com/2006/06/failing-to-discern.html).
⁶J. C. Ryle, “Evangelical Religion” (http://www.tracts.ukgo.com/ryle_evangelical_religion.htm).
⁷William B. Barcley, 1 & 2 Timothy (Faverdale North, UK: Evangelical Press, 2005), 210–11.
⁸John Stott, The Message of 2 Timothy (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), 22.

Copyright © 2007 by Tim Challies.  Published by Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission