A New Sense

Yeah, I know--I just posted yesterday. This is just so cool, though, I had to write about it! Watch this video--it is of a deaf woman who has had a cochlear implant and is just now hearing for the first time. The question she gets most is "how are you able to talk so well?" She attributes it to the speech therapy classes she took when she was deaf.

The emotion is evident in her entire persona. As she hears the nurse, she breaks out into a huge grin and is overwhelmed by joy. Tears inevitably conquer as the sound of her own gasps and sobs startle her. She begins to laugh at the strangeness of it all. She's literally been introduced to a whole new dimension that we take advantage of, gaining the fifth sense she should have had from the moment she was born.

This woman's encounter with physical restoration and inexpressible joy helps me to imagine what our spiritual restoration in heaven will be like. I imagine we'll be introduced to a whole new dimension...a dimension that was always present but was impaired to our sin-ravaged senses: a real sixth sense. This sense, too, is one that should have been with us from the second we were born. Obviously, we messed it up, similar to how we can mess up our ears by going to loud concerts on a regular basis. 

Thankfully, God had a plan of action. He prepared to enter a life-altering surgery that He would start to operate in us the nanosecond we placed our faith in Him. He will continue working until the day we die, and indeed, we are being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16.)

When we grasp this heavenly sense, we will finally understand how much we have missed. We will understand how God has been faithful from the beginning of time, and His love, unchanging and eternal, will wash over us with astounding clarity and completeness. Right now, we feel his love like we feel the rain, based on circumstance and other flighty things. In heaven, nothing will hinder our perception of His love, and I think it will hit us like a thousand waterfalls. We will be overwhelmed, like the lady in the video, except to an even greater degree.

Hallelujah and Amen! Not only do we have something indescribable to look forward to; abundant life is now!

---John 10:1-10---

“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me[a] were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.[b] They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.