I'm a fan of Challies. His writing style is easy to read, pastoral, and practical. As a biblical counselor I've read and recommended his little book on pornography to many men. Recommending The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment to the men who lead our small groups was an easy thing to do.
Why?
Personally, I think the evangelical church as a whole lacks in the important discipline of spiritual discernment. Instead of sound doctrine faithfully preached many evangelicals are treated with church growth gimmicks, a psychologized man-centered gospel, and sadly outright heresy that seems to be tolerated by those who should know better. At times it seems the term "evangelical" has lost its meaning.
What's the average person to do with such variation among those who label themselves evangelical Christians?
Answer
Learn to be spiritual discerning and that's exactly what Challies lays out in his book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment.
Rather than regulating discernment to a certain "holy man class" Challies challenges ordinary Christians to learn the discipline themselves by first defining what it is, by studying truth (so you know what error looks like) and finally by giving the reader a case study.
The case study in particular resonated with me as a biblical counselor. At times, throughout my counseling career I've heard people say, "I just need to forgive myself."
The question Challies would ask is, where in the Bible do you see a need to forgive yourself?
Forgiveness of course is a huge gospel issue. Without forgiveness for our sins we have no hope for eternal life so the topic itself is critical but it still begs the question, is it biblical to forgive oneself?
Challies works through this example by going to the Bible and sorting through the passages that deal with forgiveness (there are other steps in the process like prayer) and only then does he reach a conclusion.
This is something that any Christian with a Bible and a concordance can do (and often should because truth matters).
Hint for those who want to cut to the chase. Forgiving oneself is a psychology concept not a biblical one.
I rate the book 5 stars because of its practically and how it fills what I believe to be a great need in the church today.
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