A young man had a dream to be in the music industry.  Door after door slammed in his face, but he would not give up on his dream.  Finally, after years of trying, he was offered a job at a record label.  His job was to listen to recordings and find their flaws.  He would listen for all the snaps, crackles and pops that needed to be removed.  He took the job, because at least it was foot in the door of the music industry.

The young man was at a party one night, and another guest asked where he worked.  He reported that he was employed at the well-known music label, and had been there for five years.  The guest responded, “Wow, it must be great to work there and listen to all that great music.”  The young man replied, “For five years, I have trained my ear to listen for the snaps, crackles and pops.  I never hear the music anymore. I only hear the flaws.”

In life, if we are not careful we might find ourselves in a position where we are no longer bending our ears to hear the music, but to hear the snaps, crackles and pops.

How easy it is to listen for the snaps, crackles and pops, when we have been offended, especially in Church-world.  The pastor has offended us and we no longer hear the Word, we hear the mistakes of the pastor.  A soloist hurts our feelings, and when he/she sings again, we no longer hear the powerful, beautiful lyrics, but we hear the mistakes of the singer.  Perhaps we have had a bad experience at a church, so we no longer hear that the Church is the people of God, but we envision only the bad experience.

Perhaps now all we can see and hear are the snaps, crackles and pops. What are you hearing?  Maybe it’s time to retune our hearts and ears.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” – Philippians 4:8