A Peaceful Melody

I like music. I believe most people like some kind of music. I’ve always had an appreciation for violin music. I love the way it sounds and how it can carry such a wide array of emotions. What I can’t do is play a violin. Actually I can’t really play any instrument, but I can press play on any device and listen to really good music.

If you want an example of what it sounds like when I pick up a violin just watch this video below.

Almost anyone who first picks up an instrument will make awful sounds that can drive you insane. It’s part of the learning cure. Some will just give up before they gain any success. Some will eventually overcome and begin to arrange the screeches and noises into some form of music. Others will work hard and master the instrument.

The difference between a screeching noise that only a very patient mother could pretend to love and the captivating beauty of pitch perfect melodies is huge. Nobody would buy a cd of screeching noise, but cathedrals would fill to hear a master musician.

Why? When someone has learned the technique to harmonize bow and strings into a beautiful melody it inspires the heart and pleases the ears.

Our lives are not so different. We all come into this world out of tune, broken and making a mess of our lives. Some give up. Some work real hard and arrange their lives in some form of rhythm, but never can meet the potential they were made for. But no one can make their lives harmonize into a masterpiece on their own.

Ever since the Fall from Eden, the brokenness that sin has brought keeps us from playing the beautiful melody we were designed for. Our desperate attempts to disguise or mask the screeching noises out of lives will only leave us empty again.

Yet a long comes a promise:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

One would will come who will make things right. A Messiah, the anointed one of God will come to bring peace to all. This promise was fulfilled in the 1^st Coming of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

But what is peace? Some think it is a ceasing of war. Some think it is having a time to relax quietly after a busy day. Others find it when the baby finally falls asleep. Yet our understanding of peace often falls way short of the Biblical understanding of “Shalom,” the peace of God.

Shalom is the harmonizing of everything in our lives for the glory of God. Shalom peace is like a master violinist picking up a bow and playing a perfect song, where all the strings, all the notes and all the rhythms come together beautifully.

When we receive Jesus, the Prince of Peace, He begins a work in our lives to bring harmony to our physical, emotional, social and spiritual lives. These four strings have been given to us to make music on, but too many have grown accustom to screeching noise. As believers we often settle for mediocrity and do not strive for a beautiful symphony. We lose sight of the peace that God has promised and settle for what the world has to offer.

Let’s remember what the peace of God was given for:

Jesus is our peace who reconciles us to God and gives us access to the Father (Philippians 4:4-7). The Peace of God is to guard our heart from the lies and deceptions of this world (Colossians 3:12-17). The God of peace is the one who sanctifies us completely and keeps us blameless in His sight (1 Thessalonians 5:14-24). And the Peace of Go is to rule in our hearts and bind everything in perfect harmony (Ephesians 2:13-18).

In Christ we have everything we need for life and godliness. The Shalom of Christ should bring harmony to our relationships, our jobs, our families, and our lives. If we find ourselves out of sorts, unsettled and crazy, rely on the Prince of peace. What do you have to surrender today to allow the peace of God to rule in your heart?

There is a poem that I love that I believe captures this idea of peace in our lives. We forget the value and importance of our lives, but when Jesus does His work in our lives we become the masterpiece He intended (Ephesians 2:10).

The Touch of the Masters Hand

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile; "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only
two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars, once; three
dollars twice; going for three.." But no, from the room, far back, a
gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust
from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody
pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make
it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and
gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not
quite understnad what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch
of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A
"mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. "He is
going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone." But the Master
comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.

Myra 'Brooks' Welch