Our Senses Exercised
Introduction. As we watch a toddler learn to walk, we see their senses slowly exercised. It begins with their first attempt to stand that ends with a fall. But each time they fall they are learning to walk. As their sense of balance grows and their muscles learn the exact movements necessary, they exercise their senses. It doesn’t happen overnight, but with perseverance they slowly learn to walk with growing confidence and decreasing fear.
Every learned behavior follows this same path. It was how we learned to ride a bike and later to drive a car. It is how we learned to type and become proficient with each new hobby or activity. We always begin unsure, concerned, awkward as we slowly learn to exercise the new senses to become accustomed to new tasks. Though each task requires its own unique combination of senses, after we master them, we don’t give them much thought. We just do them.
This is exactly how we learn to discern the difference between good and evil. God described those who are without experience in the word of righteousness as “babes.” It is only those who are “full grown” who are described as “by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” (Heb. 5:13-14).
What about us? Have we used God’s word enough to have our own senses exercised? Like so many things it is a lot harder than we might think. There are multitudes today who believe they have such “exercised senses” who are actually still “children, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error,” (Eph. 4:14), or even worse, “silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2Tim. 3:6-7).
Even those who have some knowledge of the truth may find they need to “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.” (2Tim. 2:26). The much wiser course is set forth by Paul when he said “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1Cor. 10:12). Paul took this deeply to heart in his own life. “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” (1Cor. 9:27).
Those whose “senses are exercised” are able to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” and “abstain from every form of evil.” (1Th. 5:21-22). They see through the darkness and are able to recognize those who “call evil good, and good evil” that “put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isa. 5:20).
Yet like the infant above, some things are so deceptive we have often fallen before we realize it. Because murder begins with anger and adultery with lust (Mt. 5:21-30), keeping our balance is difficult, but not impossible. Jesus warned forcefully against those who “cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.” (Lk. 11:39). Only after we recognize our own “inside” can we identify “the beam of our own eye” and remove it. (Mt. 7:3-5). So “a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.” (Lk. 6:45)
A more subtle realm are the doctrines we believe. As Jesus warned Israel, God demands we teach only what He has commanded. Anything beyond this: “In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Multitudes need their senses exercised here: “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition,” and make “the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.” (Mk. 7:7-13). Rejecting the “vain manner of life handed down from your fathers” is one of the most difficult things we have to do to have our “senses exercised.” (1Pet. 1:18). When Nadab and Abihu brought “strange fire which he had not commanded” (Lev. 10:1-3), they died. When Saul “forced himself” to offer the burnt offering only the priests could do, (1Sam. 15:12), he was rejected as king. When David sought to move the ark “not according to the ordinance” (1Chr. 15:13), Uzzah died. As we exercise our own senses to discern good and evil we must learn “not to go beyond that which is written” (1Cor. 4:6), because “whoever goes onward and abides not in the teaching of Christ, has not God.” (2Jn. 9).
Conclusion. Every Christian wants to be “full grown.” We all want to be seen by our God as mature men and women. Yet God identified the “full grown” as “those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” It is only when we “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,” and “live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12) . To this end we must “look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise;” (Eph. 5:15)
Every learned behavior follows this same path. It was how we learned to ride a bike and later to drive a car. It is how we learned to type and become proficient with each new hobby or activity. We always begin unsure, concerned, awkward as we slowly learn to exercise the new senses to become accustomed to new tasks. Though each task requires its own unique combination of senses, after we master them, we don’t give them much thought. We just do them.
This is exactly how we learn to discern the difference between good and evil. God described those who are without experience in the word of righteousness as “babes.” It is only those who are “full grown” who are described as “by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” (Heb. 5:13-14).
What about us? Have we used God’s word enough to have our own senses exercised? Like so many things it is a lot harder than we might think. There are multitudes today who believe they have such “exercised senses” who are actually still “children, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error,” (Eph. 4:14), or even worse, “silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2Tim. 3:6-7).
Even those who have some knowledge of the truth may find they need to “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.” (2Tim. 2:26). The much wiser course is set forth by Paul when he said “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1Cor. 10:12). Paul took this deeply to heart in his own life. “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” (1Cor. 9:27).
Those whose “senses are exercised” are able to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” and “abstain from every form of evil.” (1Th. 5:21-22). They see through the darkness and are able to recognize those who “call evil good, and good evil” that “put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isa. 5:20).
Yet like the infant above, some things are so deceptive we have often fallen before we realize it. Because murder begins with anger and adultery with lust (Mt. 5:21-30), keeping our balance is difficult, but not impossible. Jesus warned forcefully against those who “cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.” (Lk. 11:39). Only after we recognize our own “inside” can we identify “the beam of our own eye” and remove it. (Mt. 7:3-5). So “a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.” (Lk. 6:45)
A more subtle realm are the doctrines we believe. As Jesus warned Israel, God demands we teach only what He has commanded. Anything beyond this: “In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Multitudes need their senses exercised here: “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition,” and make “the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.” (Mk. 7:7-13). Rejecting the “vain manner of life handed down from your fathers” is one of the most difficult things we have to do to have our “senses exercised.” (1Pet. 1:18). When Nadab and Abihu brought “strange fire which he had not commanded” (Lev. 10:1-3), they died. When Saul “forced himself” to offer the burnt offering only the priests could do, (1Sam. 15:12), he was rejected as king. When David sought to move the ark “not according to the ordinance” (1Chr. 15:13), Uzzah died. As we exercise our own senses to discern good and evil we must learn “not to go beyond that which is written” (1Cor. 4:6), because “whoever goes onward and abides not in the teaching of Christ, has not God.” (2Jn. 9).
Conclusion. Every Christian wants to be “full grown.” We all want to be seen by our God as mature men and women. Yet God identified the “full grown” as “those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” It is only when we “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,” and “live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12) . To this end we must “look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise;” (Eph. 5:15)