Discover Your Soul's Path to GodSample

Some people connect with God best through their various senses. Some believers feel their hearts warm up to God in the presence of beautiful art, music, or some other sensuous experience. By sensuous I’m referring to the five senses—taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight. When we embrace the use of the senses (which God created, after all) we open up entirely new avenues of worship.

When we look at Scripture we find that God often appears in a very loud and colorful way. Biblical accounts of the glory of God in heaven are elaborate affairs and rarely quiet, to say the least (see Ezekiel 1; 3:1–14 and Revelation 1:10, 14–17). Those who think only silence is reverent may be a bit uncomfortable in heaven. 

Once we taste the beauty and awesome quality of God, we are humbled by our own inabilities and we lose our taste for the world. Once we are truly humbled, God enlightens us as to what he wants us to do, and this gives us a new sense of dignity. Our exposure to God through our senses expands our worldview and our enjoyment of God. We are different people because we have encountered God. We are humbled to repentance and we want to share his beauty with the world. 

Of course, truth is an essential component of real Christianity, but feeling is also important; for we are told to love God not only with all our mind but with our heart as well. God created our senses. Enjoyment through the senses was his idea, not Satan’s. Scripture’s admonition to use music in worship shouldn’t surprise us. As our Creator, God knows that language and music together stimulate the brain more than just language on its own. In the same way, when we hear Scripture read, our minds are more active than when we are just reading with our eyes. Smell can cement memories, too, and condition the believer to consciously enter into the presence of God. Experiencing God through our senses will not wipe out a single sin, but it is a means to help the Christian pray and connect with God.

Senses can deceive, especially when our emotions focus more on the music rather than worship, or our focus is on the beauty of a place or object. It is possible to feel satisfied by a sensuous experience without having entered the true presence of God. We can slip away from using our senses to worship God to using our senses to worship worship. On the other hand, using sensory stimulation as an aid to worship doesn’t necessarily mean the Christian is dependent on it or would be lost without it. And we can’t deny that some Christians really do find sensuous aids to be a help in their faith. Remember, sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell are God’s gifts. Let us love God with everything that we are.

Respond

What feelings, sights, sounds, tastes, and smells do you associate with worship experiences? 

How can your senses remind you of who God is and what he is like?

How can you combine truth with feeling to help you love God with everything you are?