The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. Ps 119:160
Since I’ve been recovering from my surgery my activity has been limited. A few weeks ago I asked my husband to bring my guitar into our bedroom so I could refresh my playing skills. I wanted to play some of the old worship songs that we used to sing in the late 7o’s and 80’s. I love the simplicity of those songs. I’m not an advanced musician by any means but I do know that proper tuning is a must. Once I got my guitar in hand and made the first strum in the C note, I realized how out of tune my guitar was. It would be pointless and even irritating if I tried to play the notes without taking the time to get my instrument in the right pitch for each note. So, for the next few minutes I tuned my guitar. What a difference!
Every instrument follows a standard pitch if it’s to be tuned properly. Every member in an orchestra has to be sure that his or her violin, piano, etc… has put every note right before the performance begins. What would happen if each musician set their own standard of tuning their instrument? Mayhem and confusion!
What’s happened to the standard pitch of truth among God’s people? We admire and aspire to be like the church in the book of Acts. They were living in a world just like ours, surrounded by those who were hostile toward Christ and His people. Yet their standard of Christianity leaves us in a state of wonder. What was it about those men and women? How did their lives make such an impact? Why do they leave us with an impression of faith and fortitude that seems beyond our reach? Could it be that they tuned their lives to the word of God for life and godliness?
The church today has settled for a different standard! The lines of black and white have now been smudged into gray. The slow and methodical work of man’s rebellion toward absolute truth has convinced God’s people to embrace a broader more tolerant view of good and evil. If the members of the early church were among us today, I think they would be frightfully uncomfortable. What use to be the standard tune of Christianity is now too radical and we’ve gradually become accustomed to play to our own tune.
With all my heart I believe there is hope! The Psalmist declared that God’s word is the sum of truth. What does that mean? The word “sum” is defined as, the total amount, quantity, volume. The sum (total amount, quantity and volume) of God’s word is truth, and every individual part endures forever, because they too are truth. Neither the whole nor the part will ever prove false.
We have debated and dissected God’s word and tuned our lives by a false pitch. But only a return to God’s truth as absolute will be our only hope to revive and restore what we’ve long admired but little grasped about the early church.
Let’s start by looking into our bibles with fresh eyes. Let’s tune our hearts to the standard of God’s word once again. Let’s hear the sound of God’s absolute truth as never before. Let’s repent of those areas that are out of tune with His precepts, and let’s seek to be women in this twenty first century who bring back the tune of God’s unerring and eternal word.
Very encouraging words Laurie. I was most encouraged by the fact you mentioned that the early church also endured a world filled with challenges against them and they still were able to make an impact and a diffence for the gospel. My prayer is that despite the ungodliness around us that we would continue to stay “tuned” and share the gospel boldly and in love. <3. Sheree
Laurie, I am in total agreement. What great things we women could do if we set our hearts and minds on God’s Word. That’s my prayer! Amen!