Intuition vs. Faith

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”  Hebrews 11:3

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “…faith (unquestioning belief) is the substance (real or essential element; reality) of things hoped for (expected to happen), the evidence (obvious sign) of things not seen (not visually sighted).  Nothing of consequence happens without faith.  It takes faith to understand the fact that God created the world from nothing.  A mere human is born with five senses.  If he or she can’t see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or feel it, then, to them, it probably doesn’t exist or at least is not relevant to them.

We also have what some folks call a “sixth sense”, a power of perception, or intuition.  From where does this sixth sense come?  We know that for a Christian, the Holy Spirit is given as a helper and a guide to teach the values and attitudes that a believer should have and to warn of impending danger, either physical or spiritual.  For example, you may be driving and get a feeling to go another route, not knowing why.  Or you may be about to get on an elevator that just opened up, and inside it was someone of whom you just felt somewhat uncomfortable and thus didn’t get in the elevator.  That is an awkward moment.  I remember when my children were small, and we were at the doctor’s office.  Upon leaving, the elevator opened and inside was a lone man.  I didn’t think that we should get on, and we didn’t.  In all of these examples, the likelihood of something happening was very small, but you never know.  Better safe than sorry even if you do look silly.  We have heard of too many accounts of people, particularly young women, trusting complete strangers and then being found dead in the woods.

On the other hand, people who are not followers of Jesus Christ and do not have the Holy Spirit abiding within their hearts may also intuitively change their route or not get on the elevator for no known reason.  God can speak to an unbeliever in order to preserve his or her life.  Therefore, intuition and faith are not the same.  God gave men and women a conscience to know right from wrong and intuition and/or instinct to help them navigate through life, but that is not faith.  A person may say that they have faith, but unless it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is more or less wishful thinking and/or a dependence upon themselves to rule their own lives and make decisions using their own intelligence and knowledge which comes from pride.

One of the first acts of faith is to believe that God created the world and man.  Genesis 1 and 2 gives us the account of creation.  God spoke the world into existence.  He made the world from nothing.  I know that is hard to imagine.  God did not take materials that were already in existence and remake them into the world as we know it.  At the end of time, God will not remake this world.  He will not take parts of it and reshape it into a different world.  This makes me think of that old Johnny Cash song about how he stole car parts from several different model years and built himself a car.  It must have been a monstrosity of a car!  This old world is so ravaged with sin and perversion that to remake it would make it a monstrosity of a world!  Sin can’t be glossed over, painted over, or shoved under a rug.  It has to be completely annihilated.

Revelation 21:1 tells us that “a new heaven and a new earth” will appear.  “The first heaven and the first earth” will have “passed away and there” will be “no more sea”.  From all indications, it seems as though God will speak the new heaven and the new earth into existence just as He did the first heaven and first earth.  It will be clean and sin free.  Wow!  Can you imagine that?  We are so used to our world the way that it is with all of its murders, thefts, perversions, and every kind of sin that one could name, that a pure and glorious world will be so extremely welcomed by all those who belong to Christ.

My faith assures me that this new heaven and new earth will be arriving one of these days.  Intuition won’t help anyone to enter into God’s kingdom.  It may help on this earth, but only those whose faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ will be able to live for all eternity with Christ and will all those folks who have repented of their sin and placed their faith in the Lord.