Google It!

“But solid food belongs to those who are of full age that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:14

In my office, a friend at the next desk Googles anything and everything. Don’t know how to punctuate a sentence? Google it. Don’t know a certain zip code? Google it. Who wrote this song? What’s the average summer temperature in London? Who is the president of Russia? Google it!

No harm done. It’s nice to have an Answer Person. Wonder anything out loud, and you’ll have the answer in a few moments. I am thankful for my friend’s own thirst for knowledge, her desire for answers. She helps me know important stuff. And she knows the Lord, and wouldn’t look to Google for answers to life’s questions. The Bible is her authority.

But I began to think about discernment when I read this quote in a magazine the other day: “The idea that we can find the answers on Google breeds a sameness to everything” (author Barry Newman). Everyone who consults Google for information will get the same answers as everyone else, and thus we all end up thinking the same thing.

Is there a sameness to everything? Look at fashion trends. Read blogs. Listen to topics of conversation. Even in Christian fellowship, it doesn’t take long to figure out how to say what everyone else is saying, even if something inside you doesn’t exactly agree. But rarely does someone stand up and say so. We politely nod, and say “Amen” to everything.

I won’t get on a soapbox about the media, but I will make the simple observation that whatever opinion is expressed in the news tends to become the public, popular opinion. The majority position becomes what is politically correct. If you voice an opposing opinion, you will be wrong, out of touch, prudish, or irrelevant.

But wait! Believers have a different authority than popular opinion. We are told to exercise discernment.

1 Corinthians 2:14 teaches, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

This discernment is a knowing, an insight, an acuteness of judgment, often associated with maturity and wisdom.

If you want to learn to exercise discernment in this day and age, follow the advice of 2 Timothy 3:14-15: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Don’t Google public opinion for how to live your life. Don’t conform to an ungodly pattern, even if only superficially, to gain friends, to fit in, or to feel good about yourself. Rather, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

Exercise discernment by basing choices on Scriptural principles.

 Father, You are maturing us as we read and obey Your Word. Make us wise and discerning so we will recognize good and evil. Amen.