Keeping an instrument in tune is essential for making music. I'm a guitar player and a piano player, and if one string or key is out of tune, then nothing will sound good. It doesn't matter what instrument you're playing: if one note is out of tune, it will throw off everything. Being in tune to the correct notes is even more important when you're playing with someone. If you're playing a half step above or below where they are playing, it will sound truly terrible. In the music world, being in tune is just as important as playing the right notes.
So, now I'm going to turn this into a giant metaphor. Staying in tune with God is a whole lot like keeping your instrument in tune. When you're in tune with God, life tends to go much better than when you're not in tune with God.
Staying in tune with God takes work and effort. It's not something that just happens. You have to sit down and tune your instrument at very least once every week, and this same thing happens with God. If we just roll through the motions of life, slowly but steadily we will slip out of tune. To stay in tune with God, we have to make God a huge priority in our lives. To make God a priority, going to church and surrounding ourselves with people that are fighting the same battle we are is essential. Reading our bibles before we go to sleep and saying little prayers throughout our days helps us stay in tune. Claiming to be a Christian or claiming to be in tune isn't enough. We have to put in the effort and actually support our words with our actions.
Just because staying in tune isn't a walk in the park, it doesn't mean that we're on our own. For tuning my guitar, I have a little device called a tuner that I clip onto the top of my guitar. It tells me whether I'm sharp or flat, so I don't have to tune in by ear. Other Christians are kind of like our tuners for God. Being part of a community that all has the same goal of worshiping our God is one of the most valuable things on this earth. Our brothers and sisters in Christ help us stay in tune with God, and staying in tune is much easier with them.
Lastly, I want to address a phrase that I wrote earlier. I said that life is much easier when we're in tune with God. I fully believe that this is true, but just because it's easier doesn't mean it's easy. No one besides Jesus is perfect; we're all just going to hit a wrong note sometimes. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to make wrong decisions. Bad things will still happen to us. Lucky for us, when we're in tune with God and playing beautiful music, we can keep pressing on no matter what the circumstance.
