Tag Archives: music

The Song Plays Again……. And Again 

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Christianity, Devotional, Life, People, Raising The Mug

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333526-alpine-car-stereo-receiver-cde-136btI turned on the radio in my truck one day as I was driving and a familiar song began to play. When it ended, the same song began to play again. After it ended for the second time, it started up again. Hmm …… I wonder what’s up with this? The same song repeated over and over as I drove along for the next hour. I found it humorous and since I liked the song, I just let it play. When I reached my destination and completed my task, I climbed back in the truck ………. same song still playing. Someone at the station must have quit, fallen asleep, or was having a really bad day.

Depending on the situation, repetition can have great benefits. Kids learn many social skills by watching their parents and mimicking their actions and words. Repeating the same task in a job helps build speed and efficiency. And repetition can be useful when learning to live a godly lifestyle.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NIV

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. 

Moses encouraged the Israelites to repeat the things they had learned so that they wouldn’t forget. He knew how quickly the mind strays to other thoughts, neglecting what is important.

Fix these words in your hearts and minds…… again and again………

Mugs up!

All verse quotes courtesy of biblegateway.com

Giving Up First Chair

02 Monday Mar 2015

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First Chair

Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra

I must decrease so that He can increase.

John 3:25-30 (ESV)

25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

When I played in high school band, there were competitions every year to see who got to play “first chair.” If you played first chair, you were given the best parts with the most solos and the most opportunities for audience recognition. If you played second chair, you got to sit beside the person who got all the best parts and recognition. If you played third or fourth chair, you were further down the line and always in a supporting role. And so on and so forth……….

In the life of a Christian, you are always playing third and fourth chair. Christ must be first chair – without exception. And frequently it is others in the church and in your family who get second chair.

In order to maximize Christ, I must minimize me. I have to be willing to stand in the shadow, to play third chair, to only play a supporting role ………… without complaint. The decision to focus more on Christ and less on me is counter cultural. It runs against everything we are taught in school and demonstrated in our society. But the Spirit that draws me further and further into the person of Christ tells me there is something better than playing first chair……….

Jesus wrote the music that formed the world, the greatest symphony ever written. He is still writing; the score is not complete. He is also the conductor, guiding each note and phrase to the proper tempo and dynamics.

As we are being transformed into the image of Christ, we become the music itself. We are not just the notes on the page but the wonderful harmonious sound that floats through the air with every measure that is played. At some moments the symphony is dark and ominous with a crash of cymbals and tympani; at others light and melodic like the piccolo. Each phrase is carefully crafted by the Great Conductor according to the beautiful arrangement that he desires to produce in us.

As you raise your mug today, give thanks for the music that God is writing into your life. Mugs up!

All verse quotes courtesy of biblegateway.com

Grace And Truth, A Perfect Duet

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Raising The Mug

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truth

Truth is a hammer with one purpose – to drive home a point. It sees things one way, black and white, and gray is only for unsophisticated minds. There is only one direction – straight ahead – no turning to the right or left. It does not stray from the facts; it only takes reality into account.

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Grace is a pair of outstretched arms willing to offer forgiveness to those who don’t deserve it. It will overlook the flaw in a garment because it knows the value of staying warm. While it recognizes that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, it sees the beauty in a curve.

John 1:17 – 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Moses gave us the law; is the written truth, a system of rules that can be read, studied, and interpreted. Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” and that is accurate; truth has the power to break down walls of injustice. But truth should also be tempered with grace.

“Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to ferrous alloys, such as steel or cast iron, to achieve greater toughness by decreasing the hardness of the alloy. The reduction in hardness is usually accompanied by an increase in ductility, or malleability, thereby decreasing the brittleness of the metal.” (Wikipedia – tempering)

John tells us that Jesus came with grace AND truth, not one or the other, but both. He merged the characteristics together in perfect accord. He showed us that although a woman caught in the act of adultery may deserve to be stoned, her life had value beyond her sin. He illustrated that uneducated fishermen could be trained to be leaders just as well as college graduates. He went to lunch with tax collectors and prostitutes who were considered outcasts of society. He healed many of contagious diseases with no fear of being touched.

Treble-clef-hi

When used properly together, grace and truth become a duet, two voices singing two different parts but in concert with each other. While a musically inclined individual could read the music, the rest of us need something else. To fully grasp the beauty of the song, it must be performed, it must be demonstrated. Jesus exhibited both of these qualities equally to help us appreciate how the two elements should work in tandem.

In his book, The Grace and Truth Paradox – Responding With Christlike Balance, Randy Alcorn writes –

“Grace and truth are like the two strands of DNA’s double helix, creating a perfect symmetry of Christian character.”

In our effort to present the image of Christ, we need to employ these characteristics with equal emphasis.

The mug is raised today in thanks to the gospel writers. Here’s to learning how to model both grace and truth, equally balanced!

All verse quotes courtesy of biblegateway.com