“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:16-17 NLT)
What “tuning fork” do you use to “tune” your soul? According to Wikipedia, “a tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs (tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal (usually steel). It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone once the high overtones fade out. A tuning fork’s pitch depends on the length and mass of the two prongs. They are traditional sources of standard pitch for tuning musical instruments.”
The context of the above verses in Colossians 3 is a letter from Paul to those who were following Jesus in the city of Colosse. According to Paul in Colossians 1:2b, they were “faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.” Isn’t that, on many levels, our goal and aim as believers? To walk “faithfully?” But what should that look like?
In chapter 1, Paul focuses on a lengthy explanation of who Jesus is. In order for our life to harmonize with Christ’s holy life, we must have the proper “pitch;” we must have a correct understanding of who Jesus is. According to Paul, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.”
Jesus is God poured into human flesh – 100% man and 100% God; otherwise, He couldn’t have qualified to take our place on the Cross and bear our sin and shame. Only a sinless human being could have satisfied a holy God, and only a holy God could have lived a sinless life. To minimize who Jesus is, as some cults do, is to misunderstand His Incarnation, thus, nullify what He accomplished on the Cross.
There can be no self-exaltation in our development as a believer in Jesus. Any and all progress in our walk with Jesus is Spirit led and Spirit fed. The “richness” of Christ our King must emanate and resonate in and through our lives abundantly, in an excessive manner. Christ isn’t our “foundational” principle upon which we start, but grow out of, He’s the essence of every note of every song our life “sings,” from start to finish.
But how do we learn who He is? How do we grow in our understanding of what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ? Allow the words of Scripture, the Bible, to saturate our soul, fill our heart and mind, and flow out of our being. But how? Read it over and over, studying words, phrases, concepts, passages as the Spirit leads, while using trusted sources and reliable Commentaries.
All you need to start is a Strong’s Concordance, but for years I’ve also used the Online Bible. Recently I’ve discovered blueletterbible.org, and years ago, when I was still pastoring, I purchased the Logos Bible Software, which has proved invaluable. There is no excuse for not doing deep dives into God’s Word with all the resources the internet affords us today.
If you truly desire your soul to reverberate with the songs of heaven, read, study, memorize, and internalize God’s Holy Word. Stop making excuses and start making an investment in the health of your soul by making it a top priority.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 