You using the good sense the Lord gave you?

Good sense or sound judgment seems to fly out the window on occasion, right?  You seem to be sailing right along and then all of a sudden, wham! You just come smack dab up against a moment of decision, let good sense fly right out the window, and wham - you are smack-dab in the middle of a muddle.  When this happens in your life "on occasion", most don't think too much about it because we all fall prey to getting a little distracted, or just not thinking before we act on occasion.  If this becomes the way you live life - we begin to think your "sensibility" is a little warped - you might even say we begin to wonder if you don't even put to use the good sense your God gave you!  Everyone admires someone who seems to operate in the realm of using their "good sense" - but when we encounter someone who cannot even use the good sense they were given, we might actually begin to see their actions as repulsive, or worse, we see the person as repulsive.

A sensible person wins admiration, but a warped mind is despised.  Better to be an ordinary person with a servant than to be self-important but have no food.  The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.  A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.  Thieves are jealous of each other’s loot, but the godly are well rooted and bear their own fruit.  (Proverbs 12:8-12 NLT)

When admiration is the attitude we exhibit toward another, we probably are holding the other person in high regard.  Their decisiveness and wise actions just lead us to "marvel" at their obedience and quick judgment.  On the other hand, when we despise or are repulsed by the individual who seems to not even use the good sense God gave them, we almost look down on them with contempt.  When this is the case, we are almost saying we see their "value" as decreased by the decisions they are making.  This is a very dangerous road to trod, my friends.  Nothing is further from the truth - our "value" is not determined by our choices - it might look a little tarnished by the wrong ones we have made, but it doesn't decrease the value of an individual.  

Senses are really tool of awareness.  When we use our senses, we have a discerning awareness and appreciation of the situation.  What makes this so important is the ability of our minds to make effective application of truths we know in response to what it is we are becoming aware of as it unfolds before us.  For example, you don't really think about putting the brake on when you see a car begin to fishtail in front of you - you just do it because you begin to "sense" there will be danger if you don't.  The adrenaline begins to pump throughout your body and you go into this immediate response mode because you sense the danger ahead BEFORE you experience it fully.  Senses give us the ability to grasp or comprehend the moment.  They become motivating because they enhance our awareness of either danger or good.

When our senses get a little dulled, or even a little "warped" by what is we have ignored, we might just feel like we now see things a little distorted. Since senses are closely related to perception, when they get a little out of touch with reality or "warped" by our "ignorance", we are in dangerous territory.  Senses can be "twisted" out of shape, so to speak, both by inaction and by wrong action.  When we don't respond to the "sense" of danger, we might just head into dangerous circumstances totally oblivious to what is coming our way as a result.  

Probably one of the easiest ways for our senses to get "twisted" or "dulled" is when there is distraction.  Yet, there are times when we get a pretty "warped" view of life, allowing what we once believed to be true to be "twisted out of shape" because of the influences of others, the supposed lack of consequences when we did not get "caught" by our misdeeds, or the like.  The Lord gave us our senses - he expects us to use them.  One thing which might just interfere with us using our "good senses" as we should is our pride. 

Pride keeps us from making rational decisions on occasion.  More importantly, when pride keeps us from making the right decisions, we fall into temptation easier, sometimes even more frequently, and eventually the irrational, or wrong decisions become the "norm" rather than the occasional happening. Pride also has a way of driving away the people who can help us make rational decisions and draws those closer to us who are going to operate in the realm of irrational decisions.  It is though the company we keep actually might even play into how much of our "good sense" we use, right?  Surround yourself with good company and you probably tend to lean toward using better judgment - the opposite is true, as well.

Fruit might actually be influenced by the amount and frequency of good sense you exercise in life.  Think of good sense as the absence of pride - good fruit can be more easily grown when there is a teachable spirit.  Pride definitely hinders having a teachable spirit.  Think of good sense as the ability and willingness to make better choices - inattentiveness and / or distraction might actually hinder our ability to comprehend the choices which are just in front of us.  Just sayin!

Are your receptors broken?

Back in the day, before thermometers were a common thing in each medicine cabinet, parents used to "test" their children for fever by placing their lips on the forehead of the child.  It seemed like an odd way to do it since we have seen people repeatedly use their hands laid across the forehead to "evaluate" the feverishness of another.  Yet, it was a pretty doggone accurate process!  More accurate than the hand - and the closest to the true determination of "fever" than anything other than a thermometer.  The lips have a great deal of "sensitivity" receptors which allow them to be pretty accurate at interpreting what touches them.

Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips.  (Psalm 141:3 MSG)  
The "sensitivity" receptors of our lips works both ways - affected by what leaves our mouths, and by what touches it!  Maybe this is why David prayed for God to post a guard at his mouth - the entry and exit point for many a good or bad thing in his life!  He is actually probably asking God to "tune up" his "sensitivity" to what both enters and leaves.  I think we all need to pray this prayer at times.  We need to "increase" the "sensitivity" of our lips - not just so we "feel" things better, but so we are able to evaluate things with more "receptors" - just like the mom testing her child for fever.

Two of the top areas of "sensitivity receptors" in our bodies are the lips and the fingertips.  My mom suffers from having lost the feeling in her fingertips, not to mention her vision, so is it any wonder she uses her lips to assist her in identifying something she may not be sure about?  The little candy wrappers with the twisted ends are a challenge for her.  So, she puts the first end in her lips and then pulls with the fingers of one hand.  In turn, she manages to open it.  She has "adapted" to using what remains consistently "sensitive".  Did you know your brain has dedicated more area to receiving the messages from your "sensitivity receptors" on your lips and from your fingertips than any other "receptor" area of your body?  This means we have dedicated more "brain power" to interpreting these sensations to these two types of "receptors" than any other.  

Sometimes I think we rely solely upon our "brain power" to do the interpreting of what it is we are receiving and sending out.  I learned a little song a long time ago.  It goes something like this:

"Holy Spirit come.  Make my ears to hear, my eyes to see, my mouth to speak, my hands to reach, and my heart to reach out and touch the world with your love."  

I wish I could credit for these lyrics, but I honestly don't even remember the title of the song, much less the author.  Just know, these words have stuck with me in good times and bad.  They have been sung over and over as I rely upon God doing just what these words imply - making me more sensitive to the things I need to be sensitive to and less sensitive to the other stuff.

We all have "sensitivity" receptors in our lives.  One of the purposes of these receptors in our physical bodies is to keep us from harm.  The receptors actually warn us to thins like hot, cold, bitter, or sweet.  In a spiritual sense, we have been given similar "sensitivity" receptors in areas such as our emotions, mind, and spirit.  It is good to post a watch over these in order to avoid undue injury.  Without being aware of what "comes" and "goes" in our lives, we would be opened to all kinds of harmful stuff.  

Let me give you an example of just a couple of these "sensitivity" receptors God has given to us in a spiritual sense.  Maybe we hear words with a little "twang of jealousy" spoken.  Our "ear" receptors have the ability to "filter out" the words to see the real intent of the one speaking them - to divide, to disgrace, or to destroy.  Our "heart" receptors have an ability to reject or accept the words spoken -  but first the "ear" receptors must do their job!  If only one set of our receptors is working, we have a skewed perception.  It is good to use the "sensitivity" receptors of our lips to judge how well the other receptors are working in our lives.  You see, what comes "out" of our mouth is a good indicator of how well the other "receptors" are doing at protecting us from harmful input.  When our ears have filtered out destructive input, our words are likely to reflect back words of grace to the one who spoke with the "twang of jealousy".  When our hearts have not succumb to the emotional roller-coaster of latching onto the emotion behind the words heard, our speech  will likely reveal words of forgiveness, not judgment.

The truth of the matter is - we need our "sensitivity receptors" to be touched by the Holy Spirit.  Once we become familiar with the "sensation" created by his touch, we will not be as susceptible to allowing other things past the "receptors" of our ears, eyes, mouth, heart, or hands!  Just sayin!

Taste and See - mmmmmmm!

Can you explain "taste"?  Most of us would say some things "taste" sweet, others sour.  Maybe we'd describe some things as "yummy" and others as "yucky".  Either of these explanations would be correct, for taste is something we each "sense" in our own way, although we are all "built" with the same "sensations" in our taste buds.  It depends on WHAT we are tasting, WHEN we are tasting it, and WHAT ELSE we've been tasting just before we tasted whatever it is we are experiencing right now, doesn't it?  For example, a good cup of hot coffee tastes really good on a cold morning, or just as you are trying to get your eyes open.  But...have you ever had a cup of coffee in the morning after you have had a night of indulging on onions and garlic?  The "taste" of coffee is masked a little by what it was we experienced the night before.  Brush your teeth and use a little mouthwash!  The experience changes, does it not?

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.  Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.  (Psalm 34:8-9 NIV)

In a physical sense, taste is made up of different things such as texture, temperature, presentation, and even smell.  If something has a pleasant texture (not too hard, too soft, but just right), we enjoy it a little more.  If something is way too hot, we burn our tongues and then taste is totally "skewed" by being "burnt".  What we see affects what we taste - this is the idea behind great chefs spending so much time on presentation.  I don't actually do much with the garnish on my plate, but it looks good!  In fact, it "draws" my eye to the plate and makes the discovery of the food that much nicer.  Smell plays into our taste because so much of what we take in is experienced in more than one way.  We are made to experience things with all our senses, aren't we?

Now, in looking at our passage, David challenges us to "taste and see" that the Lord is good.  In other words, he is challenging us to experience God in a multi-faceted way.  Too many times we "taste" and "see" God in very limited ways - simply because we "think" God should only be experienced in this way or that.  We limit our perception of God based on our unwillingness, or just our lack of us being aware God is all around us, waiting to be experienced by all our "senses".  If we limit the experience of God in our lives, we miss out on the "fullness" of what God has for us.  For example, hold your nose and eat a piece of chocolate.  Yep, the texture was the same - the smoothness of the chocolate was experienced.  You might even get a little hint of the sweetness of the chocolate, but do you get the full experience?  I have never been to Hershey, Pennsylvania, but folks tell me the "smell" is divine!  To really "experience" chocolate, I think it would be most perfect to eat it while taking in the rich aroma of it being made!

In considering what makes up "taste", we might just consider the following things about how we experience God in our lives:

- His presence is sweet.  The moment we experience his presence, there is a "sweetness" which we also experience.  For some of us, we will equate this to the richness of God's grace - taken in, experienced fully, we are left with nothing but the taste of "sweetness".  We might also equate this to the "mildness" of his presence - not poking or prodding, but gently enveloping us in his rich graces.  Grace is indeed "sweet" to the senses, but it must be experienced with all of our senses in order to fully be appreciated.  Maybe this is why David told us to taste and see.  Experience the sweetness, the richness of the texture of grace - but also the beauty beheld in seeing his grace change what we could not.  Just sayin!

- His Word may produce a little bit of bitter or sour taste for a period of time. Yep, you read this right - bitterness or sourness.  Now, lest you think I am being a little "down on God", hear me out.  God's Word is indeed a very "sweet" thing most of the time, but think of all the words he spoke through the prophets of old.  Not all those words were the sweetest!  Some of them were downright "sour" or "bitter" when they were experienced.  Sometimes our sin or unfaithfulness brings us the experience of "tasting" God's words of admonishment or chastisement.  We need these words, but they aren't "sweet" to the taste immediately.  Thinking back to what I presented at the beginning, the things we experience prior to tasting God's grace leave us with skewed taste.  We need some "cleansing" before we can really appreciate what God desires for us to experience.  Grace words can also be a little bitter or sour at first - just sayin!

- His influence in our lives is impacted by the various "senses" we utilize to "intake" it fully and the "timing" of our "intake".  The WHEN is just as important as the WHAT when we consider our "intake".  For example, eat just before you go to bed and you may not sleep well that night.  Moms used to tell their kids to stay out of the pool just after eating because some awful thing might happen to them if they swam with full stomachs.  The truth is, the body is just so focused on digesting the big meal, it doesn't make sense to "tax it" by also adding a great deal of physical exercise right after we take in the big meal.  The "intake" of God's word and his grace is always excellent - the "timing" of our intake makes all the difference in how well we experience it!  Prepared hearts enjoy the intake much more than when the intake is on the fly!  Just sayin!

Just a few thoughts on "sensing" God today.  If you haven't opened up all your senses to experiencing God, maybe it is time you did!  You don't know what you are missing!  Just sayin!

Our five senses

^9-10He said, "Go and tell this people:  "'Listen hard, but you aren't going to get it; look hard, but you won't catch on.'  Make these people blockheads, with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes, so they won't see a thing, won't hear a word, so they won't have a clue about what's going on    and, yes, so they won't turn around and be made whole."

(Isaiah 6:9-10)

Imagine the surprise in Isaiah's eyes when he hears these words from the one who has just called and anointed him to be the prophet to the nation of Israel.  He has stepped forward, hearing the call of God, in obedience....and this is the first message he is told to deliver to the people!  No easy calling here!  I think I would be reconsidering if I took one step backward when everyone was taking one forward!  

Isaiah is asked to bring the message that reveals the heart and spirit of the nation - you listen, but you don't hear; you see, but you don't have clarity in your vision; you deliberately stifle my voice and block my vision.  Wow!  Not an easy message right out of the shoot!  I'd like us to consider something this morning - the power of our senses in the ability to perceive.

For those who are sighted, vision is a thing we take for granted.  For those who have never seen, vision is a thing that is not understood.  For those who have sight failing, the loss is astronomical!  What once was clear suddenly (or gradually) becomes clouded, shaded, and difficult to interpret with our sense of vision.  We call that person "blind".  In the spiritual sense, blindness is equated to the inability to be conscious or aware of your surrounding, events, or self.

For those who have the ability to hear, that ability is a tool whereby we take in information (often without even realizing we are - like background noise).  We use this sense to supplement our other senses - if we cannot see well, we know the location of an individual merely by the sound of their voice, using what we hear to help us interpret our surroundings.  In a spiritual sense, the lack of hearing is equated to being unreasonable, self-determined, and unyielding.

For those who can taste, the enjoyment of food is quite a blessing.  The sweetness or saltiness of an item can alert our taste buds to interpret what it is we are experiencing.  We get pleasure (or displeasure) out of what we take into our bodies via our mouth.  To the one who has lost their sense of taste, food is bland, and the experience of taking it in is no longer enjoyable.  In a spiritual sense, when we no longer enjoy what we are taking in, we are like the one who is losing their sense of taste.  God tells us that his Word is like honey - sweet, pleasurable, and life-giving.  To lose that sense of enjoyment is to lose a special thing.

For those with the ability to touch and feel what it is they are in contact with, the moment of touch can be both an enjoyable experience and a sense of warning of danger.  Touch alerts us to things that may not be good for us - as in when we sense heat from the stove.  Touch also brings great pleasure when it is received at the end of a difficult day (as in a hug or a pat on the back).  It can also help to guide us.  In a spiritual sense, losing our ability to sense the touch of God on our lives leads to us going our own way, living by our own rules, and isolating ourselves from what can bring total healing.

The last sense we could examine this morning is that of smell.  It is in this sense that we interpret the enjoyable odors of life (like the blooming rose or the fresh cut grass).  It is also this sense that gives us an awareness of those things not so pleasant (like the odors of the landfill or rotting food).  Both give us an awareness of our surroundings, alerting us to things we both might find enjoyment in experiencing, or want to avoid if we don't want to have the displeasure associated with the negative odors we are interpreting.  In a spiritual sense, when we experience God fully, there is a sweetness to his presence that our senses all take in.  

No wonder God focuses Isaiah on the senses of seeing and hearing!  The senses do so much to assist in us knowing that God is real, he is present, and that his is moving in our midst.  Even one sense out of use in our lives can greatly impact how we interpret what is happening around us - especially in the spiritual realm.  So, tune up your senses!  They were given for a reason!