“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity- conscious” and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life.”
Excerpt From: A.W. Tozer. “The Pursuit of God (Updated Edition).”
I have had the opportunity this week to read this classic book. The passage above and my personal reflections below are from the chapter seven reading. As a pianist, I relate on a personal level with this quote. It all goes back to spiritual tuning and how God tunes me. Faith, as Tozer defines “is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.”
“Believing, then, is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to behold the Lamb of God, and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.”
“Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues.”
Faith is lifting my eyes from myself and gazing into the eyes of my Savior. Faith is selfless. As Tozer puts it, “Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line.” When my eyes are raised to meet His, “Heaven has begun” right there. My faith is engaged in and strengthened by His faith (God’s unselfish outward gaze) that imparts life into me. God, Who is the embodiment of faith and all its creative power, has fixed His gaze upon me. He desires that personal connection with me.
When my eyes meet His, the estimation of my failures and perception of my inability to measure up are swallowed up in His limitless grace and endless forgiveness – without a word ever being spoken. My act of repentance is my removal of self gazing to God gazing. My eyes have met with the Eternal One and what can my limited vocabulary have in such a moment. Isn’t that the definition of repentance? A 180-degree turn – a turn that is not horizontal but vertical, a turn from the down and self inward gaze to an up and outer gaze. I am humbled. I am forgiven. My frail body is revived. My spirit encouraged. And, when He speak, my spirit is tuned by the Master Tuner.
“Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves – blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.”
A piano must be tuned regularly. Everything and anything can affects its tonality. As I move and interact with people in my daily business, I experience pressure, different temperaments, expectations, and all the such. Each of these take a toil on my spiritual tonality. Tonality, as defined means, “the character of a piece of music”. My character (i.e. who I am) is under pressure everyday, thus my spiritual tonality needs tuning daily by the Master Tuner so that my expression of talent and purpose (as in musical terms) can bring joy and delight to all who listen.
“The longer a piano remains out of tune, the more time and effort it will take for a technician to restore it to proper pitch. When a piano is only slightly out of tune, it loses the glowing tonal quality characteristic of a freshly tuned piano, especially because each note in the middle and upper range is sounded by more than one string, and these may get slightly out of tune with each other. Pianos that are more than slightly out of tune tend to be unpleasant to play and listen to, to an extent that varies with the ear of the listener.”
Except From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_maintenance
The good news is that God desires my companionship. He is near me at all times. The sanctuary of His presence is available to me whenever and wherever I chose to lift my eyes and gaze into His.
“Lift your heart and let it rest upon Jesus and you are instantly in a sanctuary, though it be a bed or a factory or a kitchen. You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.”
Excerpt From: A.W. Tozer. “The Pursuit of God (Updated Edition).”