11 For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.
13 To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
14 To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful.
15 And again, to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know the differences of administration, as it will be pleasing unto the same Lord, according as the Lord will, suiting his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men.
16 And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God, that the manifestations of the Spirit may be given to every man to profit withal.
17 And again, verily I say unto you, to some is given, by the Spirit of God, the word of wisdom.
18 To another is given the word of knowledge, that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.
19 And again, to some it is given to have faith to be healed;
20 And to others it is given to have faith to heal.
21 And again, to some is given the working of miracles;
22 And to others it is given to prophesy;
23 And to others the discerning of spirits.
24 And again, it is given to some to speak with tongues;
25 And to another is given the interpretation of tongues.
26 And all these gifts come from God, for the benefit of the children of God.
I was flipping through my scriptures the other day, and I saw this passage highlighted. It was from a seminary lesson about all the gifts of God that he gives to his children. My seminary teacher said each of the gifts made her think of one of us in the class, and she proceeded to read through the list again with each of our names attached to one of them. She attached my name to "the discerning of spirits."
First, a definition: discerning = showing good or outstanding judgment and understanding; having keen insight and good judgment. Therefore, the "discerning of spirits" means that I can tell a good spirit from a bad one; a "in-the-long-run" good friend to a not-so-good one.
As I've been pondering this lately, I've discovered how true this is. I haven't had that many terrible friendship problems, and in the rare case that I do, I can see if the friendship is worth saving or not. (As horrible as that sounds.) I'm usually very good at recognizing a good person or not, which is probably why all of the close friends that I have are extremely good people. Sure, I have my moments, and everyone else has theirs. But in the end, it all comes back as a good thing.
So if this isn't a statement, I don't know what is:
You are an elite group, because we are friends.
