Senses...

In order for us to appreciate and enjoy the pleasures of our senses we need them operating at full capacity. I am now entering a phase to my life where my senses are beginning to fail. My eyes are not what they once were, I should wear glasses, but that wasn’t always my reality, there was a time when I had 20/20 vision or I was certainly very close to it: Why do I mention the obvious? It highlights God’s brilliance in pointing us towards the truth about our existence and what can be learnt from the clues, the hints of our experiences throughout our ongoing journey whilst we live here on earth, with all of them pointing us heavenward in order to enjoy Him. Sins effect has robbed us of these valuable lessons and distracts our minds with complaints and the like.

Let me use an example to help you understand my thought process and then if applied with vigor it should help us live differently. A blind man has four senses that function and not five, a deaf man the same and so on. The greatest of our God given senses in my humble opinion must be sight which works together with our brain which processes the information it witnesses and at times leaves us gob smacked. What we see can impact us positively or negatively, our eyes the gateway to our souls. What our eyes expose themselves too most certainly has an impact on our characters. Grow up feeding them with pornographic filth and that will become a thorn in our sides. The principle applies to every area of our lives, what we see affects us on a deeper level; it is as simple as that. However the beauty of sight if used correctly should work itself out for our benefit if we are skilled in what we expose them too. Sin drives us away from God and not towards Him. Apply my thought to a given circumstance and test if what I say has any factual evidence to it.

Let’s say we decide to venture into a game reserve and we experience what is on offer, one sprightly morning we see a breath taking sunrise and whilst in the throes on that beauty it must drive our imaginations towards God as an awesome creator; even the unbeliever has something that nags away at his conscience about God’s brilliance under those conditions. Even if they are convinced that it was evolutions big bang, they understand that the event must have been epic. It obviously was God spoke and it happened, phenomenal but precisely accurate, praise God! Beauty in creation certainly gets me to ponder the brilliance of God when I take it all in.

But what about the scandalous things I see on the internet? Have you ever seen horrific acts through video clips like the beheading of the “innocent”? In like manner without spiritual vision it leaves us questioning the atrocities we witness. It is horrific! It leaves so many questioning God instead of praising Him. Without spiritual sight we will never understand the carnage of this world, similarly to a blind man trying to imagine a sunrise. Without sight we need a stick to guide our steps and it is no different for those who are spiritually blind. God must give us sight to see heavenly things. If that eludes us we will only ever grope in the dark tying to imagine heaven with all its glory. Where does then leave us? In need of God’s grace to equip our eyes to see and how is this achieved? It is rather simple; we must be born again, or if you prefer made alive by the Spirit. “Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."” (John 3:3-8)

Let’s unpack the importance of these verses; the practise of philosophy and traditional religion will only ever leave an individual with a sense of thinking that they can see when in fact they have been hoodwinked. Trickery of one’s mind, thinking that all will be well with their souls when in fact it is a lie. Professing to see when in fact they are blind. Imagine that sunset seen in the Game Reserve we considered, take a blind man with you and ask him to describe what he sees, his imagination may be honed to see beauty in some other amazing way but I can assure that it will never be accurate, it will never depict the truth, that would be impossible not differently to a religious leader who in fact is blind teaching you how to get to heaven. Man’s interpretation on what should suffice in order to attain God’s blessing. The writer of Hebrews refers to this as “dead works”; dead because no matter how appealing the effort may seem, if it springs from death it will only ever produce death! In fact it can’t even do that as it is dead! Unless you leave a corpse to rot and stagnate, before long it will decay and cause disease. Thankfully I was saved from such decay and by God’s grace found life in Christ I was rescued out of Roman Catholicism. An organisation when the layers are peeled back it is very easy to see the error of their ways and sadly they trap so many into believing their lies. But I take comfort in the Lord’s conclusion; “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  

Were the confusion reigns is a carnal perception about spiritual realities. Here was a man, a ruler of the Jews, a spiritual leader who up and until now was as blind as a bat concerning spiritual truths. No different to most of the so called Christian organisations of today, test if what I say has any truth attached to it. Here is the crunch verse; “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” a clear distinction evident. Therefore if I try and add spiritual precepts to my flesh (my carnal mind) it can and will only ever result in feeding the flesh and my soul will be unaffected. My mind may feel good about itself but that is far as it gets me. Not enough to open my eyes spiritually, for that to happen I need a miracle in my life. So how do I become a candidate for that miracle? I need God’s grace to take effect in my being; I need to be born of the Spirit and without unpacking the Sovereign call from God on the lives of some and not others, the gospel has gone out to all. The requirement remains the same for all, which is this; “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13) – BUT CALL YOU MUST! Without that call your thoughts on religion may continue to deceive you into believing that all will be well with your soul when in fact it is no more than a lie… 

Signing off

Tyrone