jordanabina
LISTEN
I haven’t given up on books. I’m talking about actual books made of paper, nothing digital. For me, there is something about holding a book, especially when it’s used, knowing I’m not the first to swim through the oceans of words that each page offers. And early yesterday morning, before the sun came up, I was once again, reading.
The best purchase I’ve made in 2020 is a pair of BOSE noise-canceling headphones; they are the best. I first saw these when my friend and mentor Steve Edwards busted them out on a flight we were on together. He was sitting right next to me and I had every intention of chatting, but he was the smart one. Steve slapped on these headphones and I’ve been jealous ever since. I see now why he liked them so much.
Silence. I’m talking no white noise. When you get those headphones on your focus for reading goes up a couple of levels. But, if silence isn’t your thing, you can always listen to music without much interference, which was what I was doing.
As I was reading, I was listening to a classical mix on Spotify and after a few minutes, an intense song came on. It had to be a score designed for battle or for something that would bring much anxiety to the listener. What I noticed at that moment was how much it influenced how I was reading and how I interpreted what I was reading.
All of sudden, the book that was relatively easy going, became something else all together. The music wasn’t lining up with the message. The sound wasn’t matching up with the spirit of the story. The vibe of the music wasn’t matching the vision of the author.
I turned it off.
It was in the moment of that choice that I heard The Whisper.
The all-too-familiar voice of the Father.
The convicting voice of the Spirit of God.
A simple reminder.
“Jordan, what you’re listening to matters.”
It can change the way you interpret the reality in which you live.
If there were a name to the soundtrack of the year 2020, what do you think it might be? From what I can see and from what I’ve been hearing, it isn’t anything good.
We’ve been plugged in.
We’ve been tuned in.
We’ve been logged on.
And whether or not we think so, many of the voices we’ve been listening to or reading don’t match what the Spirit of God is saying…
It’s time to turn them off.
The voices of the world, and there are many, are not matching the voice of the Spirit, and they never have. Never will.
Just like the song that forced its way into my headphones didn’t match the intent of the author, so too the voices of this world do not represent the voice of the Author.
We need God’s Soundtrack for 2021.
Choose it now, in this moment.
It isn’t just about calming the storm, it’s about realizing in the midst of the storm, although it loudly rages, the Spirit of God has something to say.
Every day, we must choose to plug into the word of God, spend time with Him, and tune our hearts to the sound of God. It’s the only way you will survive times like these, it’s the only way.
It might be time to press mute on many of the things we allow into our hearts and minds because it’s interpreting our reality differently than the Spirit of God would have us.
Choose the soundtrack for 2021.
Change the music.
Choose the Voice of the Spirit.
God has a soundtrack for 2021 picked out.
Here are the lyrics to the first song.
