Dial in Your Tone

Kyle Stutzman

As a youth pastor, I love analogies (even when they’re cheesy), and as a musician, I love talking about music. My dad is a guitar player, he’s who I first learned from. And from growing up around him and spending a lot of time with other musicians, I’ve learned one thing, there are a lot of funny ways to describe music and sounds. Next time you’re hanging out with musicians, you should pay attention to some of the words used. “creamy”, “boxy”, “dark”, “bright”, “juicy”, “grungy”. All these words are used to describe tone.

Tone is basically the sound of the instrument or voice. And it’s not just about the literal sound of it, but the feeling of it. Tone sets the precedence for what the feeling is going to be. If you want a song to be calming, you’d want some “smooth” tones. If you want it high energy, you may want some “heavy” or “twangy” tones. It’s one of the most important steps in playing music: dialing in your tone.

We talk about tone in life as well. You’ve probably heard the phrase “set the tone.” If you’re in a meeting, you want the tone, the feel, of the meeting to be professional. If you’re doing a Christmas party, you want to set the tone to be warm and inviting. Setting a tone is something we all do, each and every day. And I believe, just like in music, dialing in the tone of your life is vital.

In fact, scripture talks about the tone of your life all the time. We use life verses, and different passages to define how we’re going to live our lives. Some popular ones I think of:

“…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15b

“The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

I think for many of us, it can be hard to walk through life day by day. Sometimes we’re just going through the motions. And part of that is that we haven’t set the tone for our life. What kind of person do I want to be? What do I believe about God and Jesus? What kind of family do I want us to be? These are all vital questions to ask.

So, my encouragement to you today is this: dial in your tone. Seek God, spend time with your family, let God lead you to be what he wants you to be! If you want your family and kids to seek God more, set the tone by leading the way in your own life. You want your family to be more charitable? Set the tone and give. The best way to make great music is to dial in your tone. And the best way to live for Christ is to dial in the tone of your life to what God wants.