Beautiful Music

Read 1 Corinthians 12:11-14

“Is the stereo fixed already, Dad?” asked Nathan.

Dad smiled. “Try it,” he suggested.

Nathan pressed down one of the buttons on the stereo, but all he heard was a loud bzzzzzzzzz. He tried another button. More of the buzzing sound. “Nope, it’s not fixed yet,” he said, peering at the mass of colored wires in the back of the set. “It looks awfully complicated back there.”

“All it takes is some fine-tuning,” said Dad. “Watch.” After carefully connecting several wires, Dad looked at Nathan. “Try it now,” he said. Nathan did, and beautiful music began coming from the speakers.

“That was as easy as one-two-three!” exclaimed Nathan.

“The wires just had to be connected the right way,” said Dad as he put the back panel in place. Picking up his tools, he added, “You know, Nate, all these wires remind me of the body of Christ—Christians. By ourselves, we all make some sound, something like that buzzing sound you heard. But when we’re together, in tune with one another, we make beautiful music.”

“I don’t get it,” said Nathan.

“Well, do you remember when Mr. Valdez and I were working together on the church’s building committee?”

“Oh, yeah! For a long time that committee was driving you crazy!” Nathan remembered.

“That’s because Mr. Valdez and I needed some fine-tuning ourselves. We were like this noisy, buzzing, useless stereo for a few weeks,” said Dad. “But once Mr. Valdez and I started depending on each other and working together well, we really got things done.”

“Then you could make beautiful music together!” joked Nathan.

“Exactly,” said Dad.

How about you?

Do you sometimes think you don’t need other believers? Do you think you don’t need to go to church as often as you used to? It’s true that God can use you all by yourself, but very often you’re more effective as you work together with others who know the Lord.

Memorize:

“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27