Becoming God’s Best. Great catch phrase but what does that really mean?  Well, one thing I can say from personal experience is that it’s more of a process than a destination. At its most fundamental level, Becoming God’s Best involves taking what we’ve learned and observed and purposely implementing that knowledge and experience into our daily lives and decisions to become more like Him. 

Early in my journey back home to the Garden, God opened my eyes to this glorious process through the words in Proverbs 20:11 which states that, “Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.” You might ask, as I did, what does this have to do with Becoming God’s Best? Well, a lot!  You see, God helps us to become His Best by watching others and how they live their lives.  As the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding!  So, I began paying more attention to people’s actions and the motives behind them. What I quickly learned was that those who were Becoming God’s Best possessed a very important attribute – discernment! 

Discernment can be defined as “a wise way of judging”. We aren’t necessarily born with discernment.  It is a quality that must be acquired and developed. King Solomon in his youth knew he lacked discernment when he was given the great responsibility of ruling the people of Israel.  Solomon earnestly prayed and asked God to give him a discerning heart to wisely govern the people. He realized what God wants all of us to realize; that in order to Become God’s
Best we need to cultivate a discerning mind and heart.  One that can distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad, and God’s best and our best. Reflecting on the events of the past year or so, I think we can all relate to Solomon in the sense that we all need more discernment in our lives. 

We spoke a lot about Hope these past few months and how it anchors our soul to the Truth. Well, discernment protects that Hope by identifying what is true. If you’re like me then you know applying discernment to identify Truth and therefore protect Hope is critical in our day and age.  We are bombarded constantly by things that are the opposite of what is right. These lies and falsehoods emanate both from within and from society at large and attack us primarily through our eyes and ears. We know that what we see and what we hear informs our mindset, frames our attitudes and energizes our motives. It is therefore crucial that we guard these senses so we can filter out the negative sights and sounds that come our way.  Discernment is the tool that allows us to do just that by enabling us to judge wisely. The journey back to the Garden and Becoming God’s Best requires nothing less.

Easier said than done!  I get it.  Cultivating a discerning mind and heart, one that is pure, sensitive and receptive to the calling of God is difficult.  It often means saying no to those things we want and yes to those things we need.  It means being open to God’s leading and positivity in our lives and safeguarding our being from the chaos and temptations of the world.  Again, easier said than done!  I’ll be the first to admit that I often talk about Becoming God’s Best but struggle with living in such a way as to make that happen. So what next?

I want to raise a concept I wrote about a few weeks ago – brokenness.  Simply put, brokenness is the process by which we surrender our agendas and plans to God and let Him have complete control of our entire life.  At the end of the day, it is only through this transference that we can gain the discernment and purity of heart needed to Become God’s Best.  In Psalm 51 King David spoke about this transference and what he considered our true sacrifice to God; a broken spirit (brokenness) and a broken and contrite heart. So join me in entering such a sacrifice by surrendering your life to God.  Your brokenness will be rewarded with the gift of Becoming God’s Best!

Dario L. Perla