It is a common belief that most of us were born with five senses: (1) The sense of sight, (2) the sense of hearing, (3) the sense of smell, (4) the sense of touch, and (5) the sense of taste. It is also believed that there are some of us who are extraordinarily gifted in the area of perception and have what is called the “sixth sense.” The sixth sense is defined as; “The power of perception seemingly independent of the five senses; keen intuition.”

But, I beg to differ with common belief! First of all, I don’t think that the “sixth sense” is reserved for only a select group of people. I believe that most “normal” people and even those who may lack one or more of the other five senses also possess the sixth sense. However, in most cases, the sixth sense is undeveloped because of ignorance and lack of use. Just as the other senses are sharpened through training and use, and are weakened from lack of use, so it is also with the sixth sense. But, I also depart from common thought in regard to the total number of senses that we have been given. I believe that we have been given, not just five, not just an additional one to make six, but in fact, seven senses!

The seventh sense is the sense of faith! Now, I know that our religious training has taught us that faith is  possessed only by those who have made a confession of faith. We have been trained to think of faith as strictly a religious phenomenon that is diametrically opposed to the senses. The Bible says that we are to walk by faith and not by sight! But, let’s just look at what the Bible says faith is. According to the Hebrew writer, “Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen.” The Bible also says that God has given to every man “a measure of faith.” Now I know that in the proper context of that scripture (Romans 12:3), Paul was referring primarily to those “in Christ.” But, think about it! In a very real sense, everybody has faith and everybody uses faith! Even people who claim to have no religious beliefs!

We all use faith every day! Most of us don’t understand how electricity works in our homes, but we flip the switch, trusting that the light or the appliance will come on; that’s faith! We fly on commercial aircraft, not knowing whether or not the pilot has been properly trained, in most cases, not even knowing his name! That’s faith! We don’t know whether or not the aircraft is even flight-worthy, but we step on board! That’s faith! We work before we receive compensation for time and services rendered; that’s faith! We sign insurance contracts and pay premiums, relying upon the company to honor the claim; that’s faith! The point is this: We all have and use faith! It’s so easy for us to have faith in men who are prone to fail. But why not have faith in God who never fails? After all, it was He who gave us the sense of faith in the first place! And I believe He gave us that sense primarily so that we might have faith in Him! The seventh sense is the sense of faith and we all, to a certain degree, walk by faith and not by sight!