Discernment asks whether the source deserves as much attention as the message.

A claim does not arrive alone. It comes with a speaker, a motive, a history of being right or wrong, and a reason it was said to you now. Ignoring all of that and evaluating only the words treats information as if it fell from the sky. But the opposite error is just as common: dismissing something true because you dislike who said it. Both the source and the content deserve a look, and neither settles the matter alone.

When you hear something that would change what you do, ask two separate questions. Is this likely to be true, and why am I hearing it. Sometimes the second answer teaches you more than the first.