The Five Senses – A Curse or a Blessing
True believers in Christ are, without question, a
peculiar bunch. The bible says that we, “are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the
praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1
Peter 2:9 KJV) . We exist to worship God. We are expected to yield every part of
our beings to God and His will for our lives because once we name Christ as our
Savior, we belong to Him. In fact, we are so tremendously blessed that the bible
declares, “no weapon formed against us shall prosper”. (Isaiah 54:17 KJV) Yet,
despite the protection and blessings that we walk in as believers, Paul reminds
us in Romans 7:21 (KJV), “when I would do good, evil is present with me.” We
must face the fact that we have an adversary in the form of Satan, the fallen
one. He desires to see all believers destroyed, both physically and spiritually.
He wants to see our testimonies voided, pushing and tricking us into succumbing
to every weakness and temptation. But, in my opinion, he gets entirely too much
credit for bad behavior amongst the saints. Now, if you were to attend almost
any traditional devotional service, the number one reason given for a believer’s
fall from grace is the devil, the enemy, the adversary. I tell you, the devil
gets ample airtime within the Body of Christ! He is blamed for everything from
mass destruction in the world to the reason why that sister you have issues with
didn’t speak as she walked by. Now, without negating Satan’s clear influence in
this world of ours, where does free will and individual choice enter into the
picture? Where, in all of this, do we
take responsibility? When does everything stop being the fault of
the adversary?
As human beings, God designed us
with emotions and senses. He gave us mortal bodies that have real physical
needs. We need a certain amount of food, water and rest in order to survive. He
gave us senses to help us navigate through this human experience. He gave us a
sense of touch, the ability to see, hear, taste and smell. All of these senses can lead to blessings or
curses, depending on how we engage them and respond to the stimuli that triggers
them. 2 Corinthians 10:14 says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons
of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
How we respond to what impacts our senses influences whether we use them
according to God’s intended purpose or allow the enemy to pervert them.
The sense
of touch is not a perverse thing. In fact, it is a scientifically proven need.
It has been shown that newborns that are never touched don’t develop properly
physically, emotionally or mentally. We are designed to be touched and to touch
others. However, when we allow the need for touch to rule us over the balancing
power of the Word, it becomes a stronghold and a tool for the enemy to use
against us. When we feed this need for touch with inappropriate relationships
and the touching that goes along with it, we invite the enemy in to take up
residence in that area of our lives. Touch, in its appropriate form, brings life
to a longing soul.
Matthew 6:22-23 says, “The lamp of the body is the
eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But
if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” A more secular
interpretation of this scripture is “the eyes are the windows of the soul”, or
as the French say, “the eyes are the mirror of the soul”. As believers, we often
forget just how powerful an image is. We live in a time when most Americans are
bombarded with millions of images every day. Images on television, billboards,
radio commercials, and internet commercials, advertisements on cars, public
transportation and even in the movie theaters leave us with little opportunity
to just disconnect from the plethora of images everywhere. There are even
advertisements in cell phone apps! And these are the involuntary images, most of
which are contrary to God’s Word. If we factor in the voluntary images, the
number of anti-Word, anti-Will of God images must be staggering! Yet, we are
surprised when we act in ways that are contrary to God’s Word! What we see has
such a tremendous influence on our thought process and how we make decisions!
The same goes for what we hear! What we listen to and plant within our hearts
has just as much influence on us as what we see! This is why we must stay in
God’s Word in order to combat the world’s influence upon our
beings.
Taste and smell must seem rather inconsequential
when compared to sight and hearing. However, when allowed to go unbalanced and
unchecked, these senses can trigger out of control desires that believers have
trouble bringing under subjection. The sense of smell and taste often dictate a
person’s eating habits. Smell triggers hunger and taste facilitates the eating
process. When human beings rely on smell and taste to dictate their
satisfaction, they will never, ever become satisfied! Our ability to eat until
we are full will be replaced with the need to appease the greed and lust of the
senses. Why do we eat when we aren’t hungry? Because we have become slaves to
the imbalanced desires triggered by our senses. We must continuously read and
study the Word and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must pray for
discipline and balance that only the Word of God can give us. We must remind
ourselves each day that, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my
path” (Psalm 119:105). It is only through God’s Word that we will obtain and
remain victorious!
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