Depth of Insight – Discernment

Paul prays for his friends in Philippi in 1:9-11, asking that God’s work in their lives would abound more and more and lead to greater knowledge and depth of insight. This is a single word in the original text (aesthesis) and Phil. 1:10 is its only appearance in the New Testament. Many versions of the Bible use “discernment” as an alternative translation of this word.
the phrase jumped out at me and I wondered when I had last prayed for “abounding love and increased discernment” in the lives of my family and friends. I quickly realized that I really don’t pray for people like Paul prayed for the Philippians.

I started to wonder why Paul prayed in this way. What does discernment have to do with love? And why does Paul think it’s so important?

Then I started to think about my own life – the areas in which I struggle, the sins for which I repeatedly ask for forgiveness. Have you ever noticed the insidious power of sin to lead to more sin? We think or do the wrong thing the first time with a kind of shuddering reluctance, but it comes easier the second (and third, and fourth)
time. If we go on in this way, we’ll end up with no remorse at all. Our hearts have hardened; our sensitivity is gone.

Paul’s prayer is for a spoke in this wheel of self-destruction. He wants his friends in Philippi to have that quality of heart and mind which remains sensitive to that which is wrong; to be wise and perceptive in the conduct of our everyday life. Left to ourselves, we lack the wisdom and power to pursue things that lead to life. God, in his grace, gives us a “depth of insight.”
This is a worthy prayer.
And this is a new part of my prayer life for myself and all of you as I pray.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Dan