Book Review: The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 2:43PM 
by Tim Challies.
Let’s cut right to the chase from the start: This is a very good book.
It’s a good book, first of all, because it’s a needed book. If you’ve been paying attention to what’s going on around you, you’ve probably noticed that there are a whole lot of conflicting ideas out there all claiming to be God’s truth. I don’t know if I can say that there are more varied ideas than there ever were—how would I know?—but I do know that more of them show up on my radar screen than did in the good old days before I had cable TV and internet access, when I managed to live my life mostly oblivious to the constantly changing trends in evangelicalism.
That I am constantly bombarded by different ideas, all demanding that I embrace them in order to be more in tune to the real truth, means that I am constantly called on to make judgments about the correctness of concepts or practices. And I’m betting my experience isn’t much different than the experience of most of us who claim to be Christians. Real life in the real world calls for frequent evaluations as to truth or error, and right or wrong. In other words, every single one of us needs to be discerning in regards to all sorts of things all the time.
There are, of course, people and ministries that attempt to do our discerning for us. But how can we know whether to trust them if we are not capable of making good judgments for ourselves? How do we know they are not throwing out a perfectly sound baby because there’s a speck in the bath water if we’ve never learned to examine the baby and the bath water for ourselves?
Yes, we all need to know how to discern. I’m guessing we all need to be better at it than we are currently. And now that I’ve convinced you of the necessity of discernment, let me ask you this: What Christian book can you name that has the average believer’s growth in the right practice of discernment as it’s purpose?
I’m listening. Have you come up with one yet?
I didn’t think so. Tim Challies tells us that in his research he found “only a handful of books dealing with the subject, and few of those titles remain in print.” So The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment is good because we need this sort of book.
It’s also good because it’s written in a style that makes it accessible to everyone. You aren’t going to be starting this book and quitting because it’s too difficult for you. In each chapter, Challies tells us where we’re going, takes us there, and then tells us where we’ve been. It’s tightly organized, with no rabbit trails or wasted stops, which helps, I think, to make it easy to understand. No rabbit trails, however, doesn’t mean no examples or illustrations or stories to keep you interested. They are there, and plenty of them, too, but they are the sort examples and illustrations that advance the argument while keeping the reader interested.
Another reason this is a good book is because it stays close to scripture. At it’s heart, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment is an examination and collation of everything scripture tells us about the practice of discernment. That makes it nearly impossible to argue with the content found in it.
Last, this book is good because it is, at it’s core, practical. The reader is not only challenged to practice discernment, but is also shown, especially in the last chapter, how to do it. Step-by-step Challies demonstrates to us how to take a teaching and assess it as to it’s importance and validity, and then how to decide the right course of action to take in regards to it. In the end, you won’t be able complain that you don’t have a clue how to go about this discernment thing. You might need practice to get better at it, but you’ll know where to start and how to proceed.
Needed, accessible, careful and practical. Oh, and important.
You? Read it.
And may our blogger turned author write many more.
Reader Comments (8)
Nice review! The Yukon has cable? :) Maybe I am still in wilderness mode after watching Into The Wild last night.
Yes. And we drive cars, too. :)
Do you also get baseball games on that cable?? :)
PS Agree with you - great book!
...and we even get a station from Chicago, so it's safe for you to visit.
Rebecca - that would be such fun!
Ummm...I would really love to visit someday. Hint. Hint.
You can come any time. I was afraid Darlene wouldn't come if she couldn't watch the Cubs. I was pretty sure you'd be happy with just the hiking trails to entertain you. :)
awww..now the real story is I would love to meet you, Rebecca and see your corner of the world ... I'm glad you have cable so YOU can watch baseball!
maybe someday ... you never know!