The gift of spiritual discernment is the ability to view things in this world as God sees them. Discernment separates good from evil. It is the ability to recognize truth from falsehood and detect God’s wisdom from the world’s ideas. There are those who have the spiritual gift of discernment, but all Christians can be discerning.

When we consider something from the perspective of Scripture, through the leadership of God’s Spirit, we can discern what God would think about those things. If we know what Jesus would do or say, we have our best answer.

Paul told the Ephesians, “Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” When we want our lives to please God, we can carefully contemplate each day as Jesus would have lived it.

Jesus healed many people, but he didn’t heal every person. We need to be discerning about the needs people have, but we also need discernment to know if their need is our calling. Jesus had probably walked past the lame man at the temple gate called Beautiful many times yet never healed him. Later, after Christ’s death, Peter and John discerned that it was their calling. Peter took the lame man’s hand and said, “Walk.” That moment changed the momentum of the Christian movement in Jerusalem. That momentum continued throughout the Roman Empire. 

Jesus discerned the man’s need but also knew that God’s direction and timing were important. Jesus pleased God by obediently allowing that man to remain lame for a while longer. Peter and John pleased God by discerning it was their calling to be part of his healing. 

Wisdom is pleasing God. We should pray for the spiritual discernment to know how we are called to please God. Discernment is knowing what Jesus would do, knowing what Jesus wants to do through us, and submitting ourselves to God’s wise guidance. It takes discernment to please God because it takes discernment to obey his calling.