Harmony or Confusion

I love music.  It has always been a part of my life—boys’ glee club in junior high, choir and ensemble groups in high school, and many solos through the years at special events.  Singing with trios and quartets was especially enjoyable.  We made beautiful harmony together.

It all began when I was just a young boy singing in church.  I remember singing in front of the small congregation when I was three or four years old—“Let’s Talk About Jesus,”  “Jesus Loves Me,” and other cute little choruses I knew.  When I was four or five, as memory serves me, I sang harmony for the first time with my sister, who was a few years my senior.

Not realizing what harmonizing was all about, I simply seemed comfortable having these notes in my mind.  They were familiar, as it were.  Being able to hear and sing notes that complemented a lead singer has always been a part of me.

I actually discovered this ability one day when my sister and I were waiting in the car for Mom and Dad to finish grocery shopping at a nearby grocery store.  To entertain herself and pass the time, she started singing something I knew, probably a church hymn, so I joined in.

She immediately stopped singing.

I thought she was ticked off because I was singing with her.  On the contrary!  With eyes as big as saucers, she looked at me with a stunned expression and excitedly said, “Sing that again!”

I didn’t know what she was talking about.  “Sing what?”

She continued, “I’m going to start singing, and I want you to sing the part you were just singing!”  She did, and I did, not knowing what the point of it was.  Without realizing it, I was singing harmony.  It just came naturally.

I was blessed with a God-given ability to hear and sing different harmony notes that made up beautiful chords.

Life can be like that—living in harmony.  Yet sadly, life can also become a state of confusion depending on one’s environment, living conditions, or a host of other influences.  These things can have a great impact on a person’s state of mind and on how they look at life.

It’s amazing how God gave each of us different abilities, talents, and, most assuredly, different personalities.  It would be quite boring if everyone in the world had the same character, wants, dislikes, and abilities, to name just a few traits.

I’ve heard the phrase, “Opposites attract.”  That is certainly the case with my wife and me.  We are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to personality, yet somehow it works perfectly in our marriage.  I think a fitting word to describe our relationship is harmony.

Scripture speaks of the human body as having many different parts, each with its own function.  The Bible uses the human body as an illustration of the body of Christ—the born-again believers who make up His church.  Different parts of the body work together in harmony to promote a healthy, functioning body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” nor can one part of the body say to another, “I wish I were you.”  Each part has its own purpose.

So should it be in the body of Christ.  Each of us should recognize our place and our God-given abilities, using them to promote harmony rather than confusion.

We need to discipline ourselves to stand in the gap where God needs us and be used in the capacity for which He has equipped us, rather than wishing we were someone else or desiring their talents or personality.

God made us a certain way—specific, unique, and just the way He wanted us to be.  He didn’t make us like everyone else.  We are special, each one of us.

God has given each of us gifts that He wants us to use.  God is all-knowing, and He has blessed us.  We simply need to recognize and accept where He has placed us in the body of Christ.

We need to learn contentment and not try to be someone else.  This positive attribute promotes harmony rather than confusion.  So why do we feel the need to be like someone else?  Actually, we shouldn’t.

Being ourselves and allowing God to use us in the capacity for which He has equipped us encourages peace and tranquility.

There was only one evangelist named Billy Graham.   God used him in an extraordinary way, but even Billy Graham could not personally reach every person who needed to hear the Gospel.  His crusades reached countless people searching for the meaning of life, but there were still people living next door, across the street, or working in the same office who needed someone close to them to share the good news.

That is where you and I come in.

Each of us is important to God’s plan and can be used by Him to spread the good news of His bountiful love.  He wants to use the personality and talents He has blessed us with, in the place He has chosen for us to be.

He doesn’t want us to be Billy Graham or someone else.  He wants us.

When we accept this calling—and accept who we are in the body of Christ—we can live in harmony rather than confusion.

Like singing with my sister when I was a little boy, our God-given gifts make it possible to produce beautiful music when we minister to lost souls who need our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Through us, God can use the gifts He has given us to help others experience harmony rather than confusion in their lives.

We can make beautiful harmony together when we find our place in the body of Christ.

One important side note: Scripture speaks of spiritual gifts given to believers.  Nine gifts are specifically listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, including the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.

I haven’t thought of the following Scripture for years, until now: Romans 12:9: “Let love be without dissimulation.”

Dissimulation is the concealment of one’s true feelings under a false appearance.  In a sense, it can involve trying to appear to be someone we are not.

We need to be ourselves as God intended us to be and love other as ourselves.

When each of us allows God to use the gifts He has given us, we can complement one another rather than compete with one another.

And just like the harmony my sister and I discovered in that old grocery-store parking lot when I was a little boy, perhaps God is reminding us today that beautiful harmony can be made when each of us simply sings the part He has given us.

Written by,

Papa Boyd