SCENTS, CENTS, & SENSE

My mind was wandering today about how our mind controls our actions. Advertisers play on our ability to be able to experience our world through each one of our five senses. They challenge our intelligence and test our sense of humor. They display visual images, of the weather and nature. Pictures of sports events showing fans jumping up and down as the teams rally for the win gives us a sense of excitement. Our ability to feel different textures mainly is a gift given through the fingertips. And our ability to taste a plethora of items and label them as sweet, bitter or salty; cold, hot or warm or moist, dry, or bland affect our taste senses. Flavors like lemon, chocolate, strawberry, pineapple or vanilla are just some of the flavors that tempt our palate. We also have the ability to hear a wide range of sounds and realize that things may be noisy, loud, soft, crunchy, melodic, harsh, or way too intense to really understand the overall sound/music. If you happen to be even slightly hearing impaired, you can better appreciate the noise or music that is in the air. It is a sense that gives definition to our world and one that I would not like to be without.

Is there any way that these senses can control our mind? Yes, of course there is. I want you to come away from where you are now and think or focus on the scenario below: It is the start of a day, let’s say that it is bright, clear, and sunny. You have driven a few hours away from home to relax and get away from the pressures of work. You drive down a highway that comes to different turns with arrows pointing out left and right directions. You decide to turn to the right and follow the sign. You park your car; glance around and walk up to the door of a tall hotel that looks like a huge skyscraper. The sun glistens off the shiny metal trim and decorations on the building. The doorman opens the glass door wide open for you, gives a slight bow, and smiles as you enter. You walk into the lobby of a huge hotel. It is far more extravagant than any one that you could afford to stay in. You sign for your complimentary stay at the hotel. Luggage is taken up to the room and then you do back down stairs to decide what to do on this day.

You take in the different smells of the food court and restaurants nearby. There is the smell of baked items, the smell of grilled meat and the spices that indicate a variety of pasta dishes. All of your senses awaken and it looks like this is really going to be a day worth remembering. What a wonderful way to relax and get refreshed for the next work day.

Your attention is focused beyond the lobby into a room with noises that sounds like bells and whistles. You are tempted to enter and eventually do. It is a little hazy with smoke but you can tolerate that, at least for now. Everything is a buzz with sounds. Machine after machine line the walls and the rows within have machines with lights that are blinking. Their neon colors grasp your attention. People are everywhere and everyone looks like they are having a fun time. Tables are located in the center area of the room and men and women sit around the tables. If this is your first time to glance at all the glamour, you may be unable to take in all the surroundings and find everything a little overwhelming. You may find the noise a little too loud and the smell of smoke that lingers in the air is not the fresh breath of air that you are used to. But as you become acclimated to your surroundings you learn to adapt to the sounds and smells. Your senses are dulled and it doesn’t seem quite so intimidating.

After getting adjusted to the sounds and bright lights, you walk towards a machine that looks like fun. After all, it is just a game and it certainly won’t hurt to try your skill at winning. You check out the first machine and realize that is $5.00 to play. This seems a little out of your reach so you go on another hunt. There are machines that only cost $1.00 to play but even this seems a little excessive. Searching for another machine that costs less, you realize that there are other machines that cost $.50, $.25, $.10, $.05, and even ones that cost only a penny to play. This is great---such a small amount surely won’t hurt my pocketbook.

Now that you are tempted to play, let’s go even further inside the mind and discover the inner thinking that occurs during the play. You place your money in the machine and listen at the sounds around you. There is the chink, chink, chink sound of change dropping into the machine. KaChunk, KaChunk, KaChunk--the cogs grind and drop into position. Beep, beep, beep---the screen displays results of the first spin. The dollar amount increases and already you have come out ahead. You begin again and the sounds you hear are the same as the first time. The spin finishes and you have won some more money. Hey, this is fun. Let’s go again.

You continue to play. You move ahead and watch as the dollar amount goes forward, slides back a few times, and then goes forward. Then, all of a sudden, there is the clang, clang, clang sound from a new spin, one that shows you have won a bonus round. You have free spins and more opportunities to win even more money. A screen appears and if you are lucky you can add even more points to your score. Each of these points converts to a monetary value, usually another increase in winnings. You are on a roll and it looks like nothing can stop you now. You know better and don’t want to sin but it is so hard.

Your confidence builds and just as quickly as the points rack up, they begin to slide down. Do I cash in now or do I go ahead hoping that I can reclaim part of the winnings I had? Surely I can rebuild my winnings and come back on top. No, I will try my luck again and I just know that I can get back the money I lost. Slowly the machine takes away points and your luck changes. Rather than have extra money to take home, you are out of opportunities to win. You must put in more money or quit. Whatever you do now you are not ahead and if you choose to put in more money, you are even further behind. Rather than lose $20.00 your loss is now $40.00. If you continue to play hoping to recover from your losses you may end up putting in $60.00 or more with the hope of reclaiming your hard earned money. I Timothy 3:3 and Titus 1:7 give guidelines for deacons and bishops that serve in the church. The phrase “not greedy for money” is found in both passages. That phrase also applies to Christians who seek to please the Lord. You know in the back of your mind that it is wrong, but can you resist the temptation?

The lure of sin that was once so easy at first has led you on a path that you realize is a path of destruction. The casino looked like a place for having some fun and it was a place where you could have a little fun without indulging in too much sin. You chose to play the slot machines while others sat bent over a table playing blackjack, roulette, or poker. Their sounds and senses may be different than yours, but just the same they are struggling to reach the same goal---earning some money and having a little fun.

You thought you could take control of your life and keep things from taking away your joy, but you realize that your mind has deceived you. You have taken the wrong way and made the wrong choice. Your decision to follow Christ is compromised and you must confess your sin and get back on the right path.

The Bible has passages that address the problem of temptation and the allure of sin. Acts 15:10A asks the question “Now therefore, why tempt ye God?” I Corinthians 10:12,13 begins another warning, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.” We are admonished “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James1:14,15). Your joy is gone and you know that you have done wrong.

On your trip home you realize that the time at the casino that was supposed to relax and refresh your mind has had the opposite effect. Your body is tired and your mind finds it hard to concentrate. Throughout the night before you heard all the noises from the casino resounding in your head. It seemed impossible to get sleep and when you did fall asleep it didn’t seem to really be enough. When you got up, you still had to overcome the lure of the casino since it was just off the lobby. At no time was the casino closed. It was open all night and the players simply came and left and new faces filled the area. If you are sincere in your commitment to return to a closer walk with Christ, then you will heed Romans 2:4 “knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” From then on, you will put your trust in God and let him sense your needs and meet them in His own time.