The Art of Discernment

As a father of four sons I am constantly aware of the need to teach the art of discernment. It is my concern for their safety (physical, spiritual and emotional) that has helped me to realize that my own practice of discernment is woefully lacking. For most of my life I have had a gaping hole in my defenses in the form of entertainment. Television and movies consistently paint sin in the most alluring colors, and the result is that even when I identify something as sinful, my emotional response contradicts my mind. It is a bit like fighting with one arm tied behind your back; you tell yourself something is wrong but your emotions are saying, this is great (complete with soundtrack).

So, naturally, we must guard our children from this sort of entertainment, but why do we so often stop there. Why don't we instead seek to do what the entertainment industry does and captivate our children's imagination with goodness and by painting sin in its true colors? Thomas Brooks has it right in his book, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. He identifies one of Satan's devices as "painting sin with virtue's colors" and offers among others the following remedy.

Remedy (3). To look on sin with that eye with which within a short time, we shall see it. Ah, souls! when you shall lie upon a dying bed, and stand before a judgment-seat, sin shall be unmasked, and its dress and robes shall then be taken off, and then it shall appear more vile, filthy, and terrible than hell itself; then, that which formerly appeared most sweet will appear most bitter, and that which appeared most beautiful will appear most ugly, and that which appeared most delightful will then appear most dreadful to the soul. Ah, the shame, the pain, the gall, the bitterness, the horror, the hell that the sight of sin, when its dress is taken off, will raise in poor souls! Sin will surely prove evil and bitter to the soul when its robes are taken off.

Teaching our children to discern requires that we inform not only their intellect but their imagination as well. If our children do not fear sin as a poison and a disease that brings the most painful death they will be far more inclined to ignore our words and respond to Satan's efforts to make it look fun. Eve's response to Satan in the garden was to see the fruit as, "good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise..." Satan had her by the imagination. God in turn captured their imagination by making garments of skin (ie. He killed an animal to cover the nakedness that resulted from eating the fruit).

How do we best captivate our children's imagination with the vileness of sin? I think the best place to begin is the cross. At the cross we see sin for what it really is- murderous, cruel, agonizing. From the cross paint all sin accordingly. Jesus paid a heavy price for even the smallest of sins. How then can we permit even the smallest to remain. The cross ought to act as the metric for all our entertainment.

We can be sure that if we do not actively teach our kids to discern that they will be vulnerable. “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training”-Archilochus,