Why is Discernment important today?

Why is Discernment important today?

Discernment is important today because desire is being used to drive the economy, politics, and social norms in which we live. Being able to determine if our desire is one that comes from God will help us to avoid major pitfalls. In a book titled "Draw Me Into Your Friendship" the contemporary version of the “RULES” for discernment is titled “guidelines for discerning different movements.” These movements are referring to the interior movements of the human heart.

Some of these movements move us closer to God and we can use these for direction in our lives. Some of the movements we have in our hearts are bad and we can get better at quickly rejecting these movements and TURN away from them if we take the time to notice. Much of what is thrown at us today are movements that need to be turned away from.

As a human being we have a deep need to be able to trust our desires. “When we are caught up in a life of sin or perhaps even if we are closed off from God in only one area of our life, the evil spirit is ordinarily accustomed to propose a slothful complacency in the status quo or to entice to a future of even greater pleasures still to be grasped.”

Desire can move you out of the status quo or entice one to a deeper pit.

Knowing that God is desiring us AND knowing we can know His voice over all the others is what discernment is all about.

As a human living in our world today we NEED discernment. “The evil one fills our imagination with all kinds of sensual delights and comforts so that there is no will or desire to change the evil direction of our life.” But God, the “good one,” will use just the opposite technique.

The good Spirit seeks to help us, even make us see, how ridiculous the direction of our life has gone. I have so many examples of people who wonder what God is doing in and around their life circumstance. Discernment is something I am glad to know about as a tool to help people on their spiritual journey.

Having a Spiritual Director has helped me discern not just for the sake of discerning but for taking an ACTION. All discernment must lead one to take a step! Discernment always leads to action. Discernment is not for the faint of heart. Discernment compels us to do more than wonder or talk about what we might do. There is action.

If one follows the rules of discernment eventually one will arrive in a place that they “find ourselves so on fire with the love of God that we can freely give ourselves over to God and there is no competition with any human person or any created thing”.

Discernment will result in action and the right actions will result in spiritual consolation. A gift from God.

When our soul is in turmoil as human beings, we often feel God is absent. It is simple human nature to feel bad when we do wrong. Desolation is a movement of God to remove our sense of his presence. One does not focus on making changes or doing actions when in a state of desolation. Desolation is a place where God is permitting us to test ourselves.

Discernment is what happens when we are able to determine if our desire is one that comes from God. Awareness of the interior movements of the human heart toward God and his activity in our world... the wonderful fruit that comes when someone fully engages in spiritual direction and discernment. Having this awareness has given great comfort to the follower of Jesus through the ages and will continue to give comfort in our world in 2023.