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Middle 'C'
Hurricane
Katrina Relief Effort
- Mobile, AL
Lloyd
C. Douglas, the author of The Robe and other novels, lived in a boarding house when he was a
student. On the first floor of that boarding house
lived a retired music teacher who was in poor health,
unable to leave his apartment. He and Douglas
developed a friendship and a daily ritual. Each
morning
Douglas
would come down the steps from his apartment, open the
music teacher's door and ask him, "What's the
good news?" The music teacher would pick up his
tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair, and
say "That's middle C! It was middle C yesterday;
it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a
thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings
flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but my
friend, that is middle C!" *
When
I was in the concert band in Jr. High and High School,
the band director would begin each practice and
performance session by asking the 1st chair
clarinet player to play a “C” note.
The rest of the band members, one-by-one, began
playing the corresponding note on their instruments
seeking to match the tone.
This was the way we “tuned” our
instruments. The
“C” note from the 1st clarinet was the
tone from which the whole band became “in tune.”
What
the “C” from the clarinet was to the
band, Christ should be to our lives.
He is the Note by which we get our lives "in
tune” with God!
What
causes us to be "out
of tune” is what the Bible calls SIN.
Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and
from life’s true purpose.
Sin seeks to dominate our lives (Romans 6:16),
and unless it is remedied, will bring about our
eternal destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).
Christ
makes it possible for us to get our lives "in
tune.” He
died on the cross
paying the price for our sins so that we might have
forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7).
God will forgive those who believe
in Jesus (Acts 16:31), repent
of their sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of
sins (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27).
God will continue to keep
"in
tune” (forgive) those who continue
to follow the "sheet
music" of His Word
(1 John 1:7). Christ
enables us to be "in
tune” with God, one another, and ourselves.
In
other words, Christ is to be the "center"
of our lives or "Middle
C.”
He was middle C yesterday; He will be middle C
tomorrow; He will be middle C a thousand years from
now. The world outside sings flat, sin causes
us to be out of tune, but my friend, Christ IS "Middle
C!”
Only HE can bring us into "harmony"
with God's will.
The
Hebrew writer declared, "JESUS CHRIST - the SAME
yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews
13:8).
Are
YOU ” in
tune” with Christ, the Middle C?
God bless you!
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
*From
“Middle C” by Tom Moore, North Main
Church of Christ, 823 N. Main Street, Malvern, AR
72104, http://www.malvernchurchofchrist.com
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