Sweet Harmony

Life has a way of knocking the wind out of you and derailing even the best of intentions. As if this ADD middle-aged mess of a being needed anything to help distract her in life. I laugh at the goal I had about finishing the Christianese A-Z series before the first of the year.  I know, I can hear you all laughing with me (not at me). Well, fasten your seatbelts, buckaroos, ‘cause I’m about to hit the road and try to wrap up this series...eventually. 

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I love to sing. I love to listen to others sing. I love beautiful harmonies. I love to watch the TV shows where singers are “discovered”. Okay, maybe I’m overusing the word love, but I’m sure you get the picture.

A few weeks ago, we attended the spring concert at Northwest University. The music ranged from jazz to classical and I loved it all. (there’s that love word again) I sat with my eyes closed listening to the tight harmonies of acapella ballads, lost in the emotion, beauty, and talent of it all. Each section singing their individual parts, yet all joined together in the same song.

That’s what I want you to envision when I cover the “S” word(s): Three parts, all singing the same song. My life song.

Saved- Melody

"...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 8:9

Saved is the melody of my life song.  The Melody is the basic element of music. String a series of notes together and you have a melody line. The melody is the main thing.

Being saved is the most basic element in the Christian faith. Spiritually speaking, the word saved is the main thing. To establish this melody line, one must take the step of faith to accept, believe, and confess Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Sanctified- Harmony

"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Thessalonians 5:23

When another note is simultaneously added to the melody, the sweet harmonic progression in the chord makes me smile. Harmony adds fullness and depth to a melody. It gives the feel of direction.

Sanctification is the progression in your spiritual chord. It’s the process of moving closer to God, of separating oneself from the “things of the world” that pull you away from God.

In High school I sang alto/harmony. Plunking my parts at home on the piano to practice was soooo boring without the melody. A harmony line of music when played alone is dull and nothing. A person trying to live sanctified (separate from the world) without a true melody experience of being saved is involved in religion not Christianity. How dull and empty is that? Sanctification is fullness and depth in a close relationship with God.

Salvation is a gift from God to us. Sanctification is our gift to God.

Set Free- Countermelody

"What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.  But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:21-23

Countermelody is not a song played on the counter…just in case you were wondering.  A countermelody is a song within a song. It weaves around among the melody, blending with harmony notes or in unison, and sometimes off on it’s own melody. I love the freedom of a good countermelody.

My daughter-in-law sang a duet with me a couple years ago that was a huge hit. We sang the old hymn Mansion Over the Hilltop. When she was growing up, she remembered her large family singing this song at gatherings and the lower harmony vocals would break out into a countermelody on the chorus. I’d never heard it before, but she did an awesome job and it was a blast to sing it with her.

Being set free happens when you are saved. But even though your sins are forgiven, sometimes there are things from your sinful past that cling to you. Maybe they are habits or addictions that are unhealthy or ungodly.  Perhaps attitudes, depression, or bitterness tag along after you’re saved and you feel the Holy Spirit prompting and showing you how to let them go…in a sanctification step closer to God. When you finally yield these chains of sinful bondage, you burst into a countermelody that flows right along with the song of your life in Christ... your life-song.

Saved, Sanctified, and Set Free ♥ ♥ ♥
                                   a wonderful trio that sings my Life Song.
Wanna sing along?