Sounds awful!

Have you ever wondered what you sound like when you sing?  A friend once told me this great story.  My friend is a really good singer.  So when he's next to someone who can't sing, say for example in church, it can be grating on his ears.  Has that happened to you before?  But one day, as he was worshipping in church next to a tone deaf parishioner, and starting to get irritated, God gently pointed out, "You think that guy sounds bad to your ears?  You should hear how you sound to me!"

The exact same thing happened to me yesterday.  This lady was standing behind me in church and singing completely off key.  But I immediately remembered my friend's lesson, and you know what?  I really started to enjoy worship.  Here was a lady, who may or may not know that she's a terrible singer.  But all that mattered was that she desired to worship, and it didn't matter what anyone thought of her.  And then I really understood what it says in 1 Samuel 16:7 "For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

You might read the above, and think that the point of the story is that we should not judge anyone for their behaviour, and that therefore we should leave people alone, it's their life etc.  This picture I found captures the sentiment well - love me or leave me alone!

Well, not quite.  The Bible does say in Matthew 7:1-3 that "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

But the point that Jesus is really making is that we should not think better of ourselves than others.  How do we know that?  Because the next verse 5 says "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." i.e. it is a problem.  And there are wrongs in the world.  But we can only put ourselves in a good position to correct the wrongs of the world when we fix ourselves first.

In fact the Bible explicitly makes it our business to right wrongs and to correct our friends and family.  Ezekiel 33:7-8 says "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.  When I say to the wicked, 'You wicked person, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood."

In the same way, we are called to right wrongs in the world.  There are people hurting all around us because of their choices.  You may know a friend who is being unfaithful with his spouse, or dishonest at work, or making bad choices, or prioritizing the wrong things in life, chasing after the wind.  Most important of all, missing the great joy and assurance of walking in the favour of God who loves him.  We have the light.  We are responsible for bringing it to them.

But as we do so, we remember that we are no better than them.  We remind ourselves not to go in haughty self-righteousness.  We hold ourselves to account first.   We recognise that we stand not because of our own righteousness, but only because of the unmerited grace and mercy of God who redeemed us from all our sins through Jesus' death on the cross.  In God's ears, our singing sounds just as awful as the tone deaf person next to us.  The lesson is not that we are all good.  It is that we are both awful.  But He loves us both the same, and He looks through the awful singing to the heart of our worship.  Thank God for that!

NB: On an interesting note, it is amazing how long I had to look to find a picture to express the sentiment that it is our business, our responsibility, and it is up to us to love our neighbour (I ended up with my own church brochure).  On the other hand, the number of pictures expressing the sentiment - it's not my job to bother about others, it's my life, it's not your business, get lost etc was depressingly high.  Let's determine to change this self-centred, leave me alone world!

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