Just as the Old Testament saints and the Early Church had to watch closely for false teachers among them, so we still do today. We can’t rely on our pastors, mentors, teachers, or favorite bloggers to tell us who is false and who isn’t. We need to be equipped to discern for ourselves. Here’s how.

Discernment is good. Desiring to see God’s name honoured and his Word rightly divided is a righteous desire. But there’s a type of hunting goes beyond loving and gentle discernment. Like Miss. Morton from Northanger Abbey, they enjoy the adrenaline of the hunt.

Most of us have learned to be careful with the term “heretic”, reserving it for those who are far from orthodoxy, but perhaps some of us (myself included) are still a bit too quick to stick the label “false teacher” on others’ backs. Can you relate? How do you know when to call someone a false teacher?

Discernment is like examining a well-done counterfeit painting—we need an expert, well-trained eye to see the tiny detail differences between the genuine and the fake. But how is this eye for detail trained? How do we strengthen our discernment muscles?

As natural as our feelings are, they don’t always communicate what is true. Our feelings often fall short of reality, though they can easily convince us of a different perception. But as believers, we are called to live by and think on what is true—not what feels true—and the truth of God’s Word must always prevail over our feelings.

Decision-making can fill us with anxiety. What if I make the wrong choice? Sometimes we extend the necessary time to make a decision out of fear. What if I told you that as believers we have God’s Word as a perfect standard to bring our questions to? What if I told you that despite what you choose, it is still entirely in God’s hands?

Shortly after I became a believer, I still lived by my feelings rather than my faith. I doubted my salvation because it didn’t feel real. Do you live by your feelings? Do you live in a similar way that I did? If so, we need to consider what God’s Word has to say about our feelings, and what living by faith actually looks like.

Whether you think you are already a pretty humble person, or you think you need lots of growth in the area of humility, here are six characteristics of a humble woman of God.

You don’t need to stop warning others and pointing out false teachings in order to be gracious. You can be both a grace-filled and discerning church member simultaneously. But first, it requires remembering the grace of the gospel.

In my striving to be godly woman and wife (and future mother) I become discouraged with this woman. How does she do all that she does? In such a pursuit, I forget that the foundations for such a woman is not works, but theology. A woman who is a theologian first can in turn do the good works, teach with wisdom, discern truth, smile at the future, and fear God.

Discernment is known as the ministry is which a person warns others of false teachers and their teachings. This has the possibility is being a gracious gift to the church. However it can, by means of sinful man, become something monstrous when it is based on conscience issues, facts are founded on lies, rudeness is prominent, and God’s glory is not the goal.