I have often sought the Lord's help in an area that I recognize as deficient in my life—wisdom. I have followed the admonition of James 1:5, which says If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But I was taught as a child that pulling a single verse out of its context and trying to press that verse to use can be dangerous. I guess I didn't follow my father's advice on that one.
So this morning as I read the Bible I was struck with the passage called out in the box above. Paul is addressing folks who are gathering together around the Word of God. But they "have become dull of hearing" and now "need someone to teach [them] again the basic principles of the oracles of God."
But Paul explains what we all need to do to strengthen our understanding and our discernment, which I believe is the deficiency I have at times recognized in myself. Paul says, "solid food is for the mature." He then defines the mature people in this way: those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
I have read this passage many times, but today that description jumped out at me. What is required here is the exercising of our muscles. If we allow our discernment muscles to atrophy, even those of us who have shown good discernment in the past may lose our ability to discern right from wrong. We must train our discernment muscles through constant practice. This is a characteristic of maturity.
Perhaps here is a New Year's resolution for me to consider. But I think I need to resolve to do this immediately.
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