Jesus Was Hurt Necessarily, We Don’t Have To Be Hurt Unnecessarily
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Discernment is a gift from God. It’s the ability to recognize something, to distinguish if something is or someone is good, bad, honest, worth being connected to with the senses, Holy Spirit direction, and intuition.
We humans can only see one side of a person or situation but God is able to see all sides of a person or situation, and because we’re limited and can’t read hearts, we have to ask God for His spirit of discernment to indwell in us and give us insights. In asking God for this gift, we are asking for wisdom, and wisdom protects us from negative people and situations that life throws at us.
Godly wisdom will give us discernment of people that are trying to come into our lives who may be trying to sabotage our progress in life; Godly wisdom will give us discernment of people that may be trying to befriend us when we are excelling; and Godly wisdom will give us discernment of people that are emotionally draining.
Yes, we are to forgive people when we do get hurt and we all get hurt (and hurt others) at one time or another. But, wisdom and discernment doesn’t mean we have to be reconciled to people and situations that God has cut us off from. It also doesn’t mean we have to put ourselves around people that just aren’t good for us to be around. Being a follower of Christ doesn’t mean one has to put him/herself in the brunt path of unhealthy people and unhealthy situations.
Jesus necessarily put Himself in the way of hurtful people because He is God and His mantle and mission was to save humanity by choosing to die on the cross. No human will ever have that mantle, God doesn’t expect any human to unnecessarily be in the situation that Jesus was. So, one gift He gives His children is discernment to assess what we should be around and what we shouldn’t be around.
May we seek to know Him deeper and experience this gift of protection.