I grew up playing handbells. For those of you not familiar with them, it is exactly what it sounds like, a bell rung by hand. The bells are tuned to specific tones and when you get enough people, you can play a song with handbells. One of the things I always thought was kind of interesting about them was that the right tone from another source could cause the bell to vibrate and yes…I know I’m a nerd. For example, if you sing an E then the E bell would vibrate strong enough to be heard. It’s not that the F and D bells didn’t vibrate, but they didn’t vibrate as strongly because the source sound was a different tone.
One of the definitions of resonance according to Merriam-Webster is: “the quality of evoking a response.” When you sing or play the right tone at a bell it evokes a response from the bell, specifically, the bell vibrates reproducing the tone. In life, some things resonate with us more than others. As a Christian, certain songs, verses, and messages will resonate with us. Here is my question though, how are you tuned?
In other words are you tuned according to your will or God’s? If you determine your own tuning, there maybe verses of scripture, songs, styles of music, or messages that resonate with you, but they are not going to be the right ones, because you are out of tune with God. You are going to be worried about the wrong things, you will dwell on the wrong things, and you will build on the wrong things, because what resonates with you is determined by you rather than God.
We are all guilty of determining our own tuning at times. We are all guilty of tuning ourselves based on what we hear from the world or friends, or based on what we feel, see, or hear. It may be time to retune yourself to Christ. Ask yourself, am I more worried about which songs resonate with me or which songs connect people to Christ? Am I more worried about which programs at church resonate with me or which ones connect the lost to the church? Am I more worried about how I feel about something or am I more worried about the glory of God?
In the last few weeks God has been tuning me, he has been using a number of the Psalms to do so. One of these is Psalm 23. I will be preaching on Psalm 23 this Sunday, I believe that this Psalm has a lot to say about how we are to live and who our God is. One of the most important things the Psalm reminds us of is that HE leads. We don’t get to pick the green pastures or the quiet waters, HE leads. Are you letting Him lead? How are your tuned?
John-David M. Culbertson 