By Lara Cook
To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God. Colossians 1:10
Dictionary.com defines dissonance as: inharmonious or harsh sound; discord; cacophony; Music; a simultaneous
combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and
needing completion; an unresolved, discordant chord or interval; disagreement
or incongruity.
Musical composers put dissonant chords in music on purpose
all the time. But any musician knows
that when you are playing music and you come across a dissonant chord, it
always makes you stop and double check the music. It is a tense and unstable sound and it
usually does not sound quite right to the ear until it is resolved. It is incomplete.
Dissonance in our lives is the same way. Is there something in your life that is just
not quite right and you know it but you just keep going anyway? One of the definitions for dissonance above
is being in a state of unrest and needing completion. That is exactly how our lives feel when we
have dissonance in our life. Something
is out of harmony with the rest of our life.
It may be an attitude, a behavior or a relationship. A sense of conviction and unrest equals the
presence of the Holy Spirit in us, pressing us to resolve the dissonance. Just as a musician stops and examines the
music when they play a dissonant chord, we need to examine things when we
experience dissonance in our lives.
Dissonance should make us re-evaluate what is going on. It should make us examine whether or not
something needs to change, or if we need to be more careful in some area of our
lives. Do we need to re-focus and make
some new commitments? What needs to
change to resolve the dissonance?
Dissonance creates a longing for harmony and wakes us up to weaken
future dissonance. It leaves us desiring to be complete.
Dissonant chords can be beautiful. Even though they are inharmonious and a harsh
sound, they resolve beautifully. They
serve a purpose. In fact, some of the
most well-known musical pieces in history are so well known because of the
dissonance included which is the key element of the piece. The dissonance in
our lives can resolve beautifully too. God
never wastes any moment of our lives. He
uses every breath we take and every moment we are alive for His glory in some
way. They all serve a purpose. He
promises that all things work together for the good of
those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
God will use dissonance in
our lives as a part of the beautiful masterpiece He is composing. He
incorporates it into the melodious chords of our existence and gives purpose to
every second of our lives. All of our
lives, every moment, He will use to complete us in Him.
Scripture to Claim:
Turn
away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. 1 Peter
3:11 NLT
