IN TUNE WITH GOD

"Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped." -- Jack Hayford

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2)

A sheep rancher in the remote mountains of Idaho found that his violin was out of tune, and, try as he would, he was unable to make the instrument sound the way it should. A frequent listener to a radio station in California, he wrote the station concerning his problem, asking these good people at a certain hour and minute on a certain day to strike the right note for him. This they did: stopping everything else, silencing all other sounds for a moment, they struck that note. In his shepherd's hut in the distant mountains, the shepherd heard that sound, and from that single note he put his instrument into tune again.

We can so easily become confused or lose our way out there in the weekday world…, and end up totally out of tune with God. The only way we can get back in tune is through worship, where we listen for the signal-tone He strikes for our lives, for the pitch He gives by which our hearts may be put in tune [with God and with one another].  

-- Aneel Aranha

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IN TUNE WITH GOD

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:1-2 NIV)

I began to play the piano at the age of six. At one time I could actually play "The Flight of the Bumblebee". These days I couldn't get the poor little guy off the ground.

At any rate, it took me no time at all to learn that if the piano was out of tune, no matter how hard I tried, whatever I played sounded awful. Therefore, whenever I would play at a concert there was one thing I had to do when I walked out on the stage. I had to trust that whoever was in charge of keeping the piano tuned had done their job.

So it is with life. If you put God on the sidelines, your life will be badly out of tune. And no matter how hard you try, the dissonance will be obvious to you and everyone else. Try to solve your problems by being the “Captain of your fate and the master of your soul” and you will win an Oscar for trying to properly interpret a fool. Try to solve your problems by [tuning to the world around you] and you will soon find yourself out of tune and out of sync with [God].

So, what to do? Do what makes imminently good sense: hear, believe and act upon the words of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And when you wake up and walk into a new day with God, you don't have to be afraid, because come what may, He has prepared the way. 

-- Rev. V. Neil Wyrick in a sermon titled "Out of Tune, Out of Sync -- What to Do?" 


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