Knowledge and Discernment

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

KNOWLEDGE AND DISCERNMENT

Phil 1:9-11

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.

NIV

Paul had told them he would thank God every time he thought of them and that he would pray for them and here is what he says he prays. As we take his attitude as an example of how our attitude should be toward each other, perhaps this might serve as an example of how we should pray for each other. This is not the typical laundry list type prayer, which includes all our wants and desires, or even a prayer for healing or some other need. But this has to do with our love abounding more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. What does that mean? This love is the agape type love, which denotes love toward men, love toward God, the love of God toward men, it is all-inclusive love that looks past all faults and simply loves without restraint. It is not a reciprocal type of love, but a love that loves first. It has no limits, much as the Greek word translated abound implies. Just as a river that keeps enlarging until it overflows its banks and floods the entire area. Our love for God and for each other should abound in this same manner. However, this knowledge and depth of insight carry additional meaning. Our manner of love should not be a blind love, but it should be based on the divine things of God. Our love should be based on the truth of God, and intelligent affection and that is it discerning. We are to discern in regard as to how and what we have an affection for. At the same time understanding, being discriminating regarding the love of God toward us and how we are to exercise this love toward others. Because God gives us this depth of insight through the gift of the Spirit, which is defined as discernment, we are able to discern what is best so that we may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Now we know that it is Jesus who makes us pure and blameless in the sight of God. Paul makes this extremely clear in his letter to the Ephesians.

Eph 1:3-10

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

NIV

This is his prayer for us that we abound in this love and that we overflow with this love for God and for man, because of the knowledge and discernment of this truth. In addition, he prays that we will be filled with the righteousness that comes from Christ. Everything we are, our salvation, our purity, our holiness, our blamelessness and our righteousness has nothing to do with us, or our ability to achieve any of it, but only because being in Christ. This is the proper knowledge and discernment we need.