WWJD

I can’t imagine living life devoid of one of my biological senses. These essential gifts determine how you and I perceive the world. While it is difficult to pinpoint which of our physical senses is most important, it is somewhat safe to assume that, if ranked according to strength of influence over our perceptive abilities, the senses would fall along the order of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

Each sense is here ranked according to the degree and volume of stimuli it can process. Vision, for example, is certainly superior to its brother senses by its capacity to synthesize vast amounts of optical data. The eye then transfers this information to the brain for instant analysis, thereby creating a detailed picture from which innumerable conclusions can be drawn. By contrast, taste can only decipher five sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savory.

While it all sounds a bit academic, the science of human creation is an extraordinary thing. Our senses work in concert to develop our view of the space around us. Our insight regarding the world would be severely impacted apart from the capacity of these physical gifts. All I know is my life would be forsaken if I were incapable of gazing into my dear Cindy’s warm blue eyes or hearing the calling voices of my children. Imagine my discontent if I were unable to experience the musky aroma of decaying leaves in autumn or feel on my face the biting sting of winter’s wind. These are the things I am meant to love and experience. My senses tell me so.

I believe there is another sense, yet unmentioned that may be as important, if not more so, than the rest. It is a definitive sixth sense, experienced by those whose lives have been transformed by the divine touch of grace and the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. It is a spiritual intelligence granted to those redeemed souls who embrace the metamorphosis that is meant to occur in the re-created life, a new birth initiated through divine love, intended to endow us with fresh spiritual insight. This unique spiritual intuition opens our eyes and intellect to a new way of living and perceiving. Through this spiritually cognitive process we are meant to understand the mindset of Jesus.

The gospels abound in their narratives regarding the character and behavior of Jesus. These scriptural illustrations, along with the aforementioned Spirit-given discernment, are the primary ways by which Jesus is revealed to us. These revelational forms are the imperative guide to those who are given over to Christ.

Follow the logic for a moment. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were clear and consistent in their scriptural accounts of Jesus’ ministry. Even a cursory reading will bear this out. And since Christians worldwide believe in the authority of scripture, we have no reason or justification to deny or ignore the information provided regarding Jesus’ interactions with the world. His story is there for all to see and emulate. If we claim to know and follow Christ, we are then destined, required even, to become as he was, at least to the degree our fallen nature will allow. Don’t we all aspire to be like Jesus? Is that the driving ambition that colors your worldview? This is the essential question for the Church in these days of distorted reasoning. The alleged modern-day people of God may have some explaining to do regarding the failure of their senses. I have news for you: the Pharisees of old are watching and applauding from their white-washed tombs.

Putting the gospels aside for a moment, let’s look at the second point of logic regarding our previously noted spiritual sixth sense. During Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, he tells his friends that he is going away, but in his absence, the Father will send a Counselor, a representation of Jesus himself, the Holy Spirit, who, “Will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance everything I said to you,” (John 14:26). And so, with these words, the disciples and the Church were gifted the possibility of supernatural insight. That is to say, the voice, actions, and intentions of Jesus are made manifest through the language and revelation of the Spirit. The totality of everything Jesus was during his ministry is replicated through the mind of the Spirit. As Jesus was physically, the Spirit is supernaturally. I’ll be careful here to not create a picture of separation within the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. They speak and teach with a singular voice, a voice that gives definitive instruction regarding the treatment of our brothers and sisters across the world...or across the street. I’m afraid far too many of us have chosen to turn a deaf ear to this holy voice.

I’ll ask you a few questions: Do you trust your senses, both physical and spiritual? What is the picture they create for you? Are you ignoring what you see, failing to comprehend what you hear? Are you overlooking the bleak realities of the human condition? Are you quick to condemn, having forgotten how to love? Can you not taste the bitter lot of the lonely, oppressed, and outcast? Can you smell the rot of social cruelty and injustice? Does your judgementalism stand in the way of human embrace? I’m asking you to open your mind and heart to the realities of the world as interpreted by your senses. We already know what Jesus would do. The question remains, what will you do?