Develop Discernment

In the science of lie spotting the experts have learned that right handed people look up to the right when they are lying but to the left when they are telling the truth. For the left handed person it is the opposite.

I find it fascinating that our bodies give us away in many ways when we are lying and validating what we say when we are telling the truth. Our bodies and mind are deeply connected much more than we realize.

There is the false smile for instance, when we are pretending to smile to impress others, our smile is dead and lifeless only engaging the muscles around our mouth. When we are smiling genuinely the muscles in our entire face including the eyes are engaged in the smile. No one can fake a real smile!

There are many other signs, whether or not someone is telling the truth. When we learn the body language we can become more discerning, although sometimes we see these things without realizing it and sense that we don't believe someone but we don't know why we don't trust them.

There are what is called "micro expressions" on the face that occur when someone is telling a lie. We do not know that we see them, but our heart knows something is not right.

In these last days it is good to be closely connected to the Lord Jesus Christ Who can warn us about the deceptions all around us. God gives us discernment, even wisdom about someone through their body indicators as well as their speech, the words they use and the change in voice as they speak.

I am convinced that many believers turn off their discernment switch in order to be accepted by the culture around them. If they can just ignore the signals and clues they can be happier and more included by others. Believers are so eager to appear loving and kind they think they must pretend everything is alright to be a good Christian. The problem with this mentality is that it denies truth and leaves us open to all kinds of pitfalls.

It is not a good idea to continually evaluate every human being about every little thing, but when we have discernment we don't have to look for anything, it will appear to us without effort.

It is a good thing to be discerning and discriminating. Discriminating used to mean choosing right from wrong back in the day. Today it has been made to refer to an attitude of prejudice against race or gender. The old definition of discriminating was to be able to discern between good and bad, without it we could be continually mistaken about many things, making unnecessary errors, falling in with evil people or losing the ability to make good judgments.

We need discernment, God can give us all we need when we need it, but we must know His Word to gain this wisdom.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"

Philippians 1:9-10
"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,"