Test the Spirits

 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1).

Test the spirits. The biblical writer was calling his readers to exercise spiritual discernment.

Spiritual discernment is the ability to recognize that which is of God and that which is not. It is the ability to see through — discern — the surface appearance to the spirit that underlies what is being presented. It is the ability to see the deeper realities.

Spiritual discernment is a vitally important gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10). Without it, we are easily deceived and led astray “by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). We are deceived by the persuasiveness of people who say things that “sound true,” often using the Bible to validate their position. We are led astray as others appeal to what we already believe and how we already think. Apart from spiritual discernment, we confuse our thinking (i.e., the way the world taught us to think) with the truth of God and the ways of the world with the ways of God. Without it, we get trapped in our old thinking and, consequently, stuck spiritually.  We remain spiritually immature, “children, tossed to and fro and blown about” (Ephesians 4:14).

The Spirit guides us in exercising discernment. (Remember, spiritual discernment is a gift of the Spirit.) Our ability to exercise discernment grows as we grow spiritually. The Spirit teaches us the ways of God Jesus taught (John 14:27), moving us beyond how the world trained us to think. The Spirit teaches us the deep things of God so that our thinking is shaped by the character of God and the ways of God (1 Corinthians 2:7-16). We take on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). The more our thinking is shaped by the character of God and the ways of God (i.e., the mind of Christ), the more discerning we’ll be.

Until we hone our skills in exercising spiritual discernment, Paul provides us a simple tool to use. In his discussion about living by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26), the Apostle Paul drew a contrast between the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). His contrast guides use in exercising discernment. The works of the flesh are about self-indulgence, power, and conflict — “enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy” (Galatians 5:20-21). By contrast, the Spirit empowers us to love as Jesus loved — to be patient, kind, generous, faithful, and gentle with others. Anything that produces conflict and division is not of God … period. It is the result of living out of “the flesh” — our anxiety-driven, self-serving, what’s-in-it-for-me nature. Conflict and division are always fueled by a not-so-subtle sense of arrogance that says “I’m right; you’re wrong.” Paul said love “is not boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

How much pain and destruction might we avoid in our churches if we understood this simple truth: conflict and division, along with the anger and sense of being “right” that drive them, are never of God; they are the product of our sinful human condition?

But, then, that would require us to grow up spiritually-emotionally-relationally. It would require us to talk through our differences, seeking common ground. It would require us to actually listen to and hear what the other said. It would require us to negotiate a way forward. It would require us to follow the guidance of the Spirit. It would require spiritual discernment.

Beloved, test the spirits — including those in our own hearts!