I remember it clearly. I had just got home from an 8 hour long night shift, and was crawling into bed utterly exhausted. At 7:30 AM in the morning on a cold fall morning, the rest of the world was just beginning to wake up. The fumes from cars warming up was beginning to float over dew-covered driveways, and the birds sung their last few songs before they would depart for the winter. I slowly made my way into my bed, prepared for a long day of catching on lost sleep... when all of sudden, I heard...
BRAAAAAAAANNNGGGG, BRRAAAAAANNNNGGG, BRRRAAANGG... If there was ever a time where I cussed out loud and actually meant it, that was it. Not only was I incredibly exhausted, but the sound of the alarm blaring RIGHT ABOVE my bed made me want to throw concentrated acid on my ears just to stop hearing it.
When I relayed this story to a friend of mine later that day, I briefly mentioned something about wishing that they would play a song like "Staying Alive," instead. (BTW, for you CPR savvy people who want to remember what the tempo is for 100 BPM to do CPR to, apparently Staying Alive is the tune that best fits... and pun intended.) Said friend looked at me and asked, "Are you sure a super loud song would be better?" UH YES.
What makes music is the change in pitch. A single note held over a long period of time not only is NOT music, but is rather annoying and is just NOISE. It's that change that we're looking for, that makes real music.
Much like how a faith without change in a person is meaningless. It's just words or actions, or worse yet, RELIGION. Just like change in pitch can make all the difference between noise and music, so does change in a life make the difference between religion and real faith.
Matthew 18:1-3 (NIV)
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" [2] He called a little child and had him stand among them. [3] And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Romans 2:28-29 (NLT)
For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. [29] No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God's Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
Take it one step further. When we allow God to lead the way in our lives, he writes a melody to match our notes and makes harmony. There is a difference between singing your own melody and expecting God to do harmony over your notes... and allowing God to pick the leading line.
The challenge: Are you trying to be the writer of the music, instead of following the Composer's lead? Is it leading to meaningless sound, or harmonious music? Is it evident by the change in your life that that your eyes are the Conductor?
