A Sixth Sense

John 17:16 You are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

I once heard a man say that God had told him where to go for a cup of coffee just that morning.  Thus, he had been blessed by an excellent cup of coffee.  I was pretty sure he was mixing up God’s voice with that of his stomach’s, but still, I was a little jealous.  I wanted God to talk to me too.

As I was following myself to destruction at the time, I could not hear God’s voice.  All I could hear was the voice of my own appetite.  In that condition, I could not see, hear or feel God, so, I came to question his existence.  Oddly, I became interested in apologetics, the arguments and reasons for God’s existence.  As I could not feel or hear God, I needed to prove by reason that He existed.

If you asked me now though, how I know God exists, I would tell you that I feel, hear, and see him everywhere.  Though you may think I am as nuts as the man seeking that cup of coffee, I would tell you that my greatest evidence for God is his unquestionable presence in my life.  This is the purpose of the Christian life of course, to know God in a very real, tangible sense, here and now.

We are spiritual creatures, designed not just to know this physical world, but to know and touch that which is otherworldly.  So many of us though, have pursued the desires of this world to the point where we have become and blind to the reality of God in this life.  We have been gifted with a spiritual or sixth sense that may grow through practice or shrink through lack of use.  The problem of course, is that this world is so distracting that it consumes our thoughts and perceptions, blinding us to the greater reality.

Jesus, in today’s passage, reminded us that this world is not our ultimate reality.  As He is not of this world, our highest purpose and greatest calling in life is not of this world either.

The greatest lie my flesh can convince me of, is that this physical world is my fundamental reality.  My greatest defect then, is not specifically drugs, sex or food.  My greatest defect is that I pour all my time, energy and attention into a reality that will not last.  In 100 years, most of what I pursue will be gone.  My spiritual reality though, will still be standing in 1,000 years.  My greatest purpose in this life then, is not to follow my temporal desires in this world, but to learn to navigate this world while pursuing God.

It is not that I ignore or abandon this world.  Though there is much evil here that I must deny, this world is still God’s creation and I may still find him in it.  My greatest moments in life are those in which the two worlds come together where I can see, feel and hear God in his creation.  I can hear God in his word.  I can see him in the beauty of the stars.  I can feel his touch in the cool breeze off the water.  God is ever-present in this world.  I must continually discipline my sixth sense, my spiritual sense, to see, hear and feel him.