Dancing With Christ

“I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in your own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished.” 2 Samuel 6:21-22

A dancer who was at her peak of her career was devastated when she was diagnosed with cancer. The treatment had left her weak and breathless and she was unable to continue her dancing career. The story of king David dancing before the Lord gave me the insight that when we are unable to dance physically, we can learn to dance spiritually with God. Stacy Hawkins Adams in her book, Who Speaks to Your Heart, shares the view that living in ways that reflect God's goodness, graciousness and unconditional love is dancing to God's rhythm.

To do so, we need to choose to live a joyful life that is God centered and care free rather than a life that is burdened by the cares of the world and status symbols. We dance, according to Stacy, because it is a form of praise to God for his unconditional love and for the blessings we do not deserve.

We don't dance because we are without sin or that we are perfect. She also makes the point that dancing means loving God without self-consciousness. When we do so we will not attack others for their lack of faith or impose legalistic practices to earn God's love.

Stacy gives us a timely reminder that no one wants to be preached to or force fed the message of Christianity or the Word of God. The best way to share the messages of salvation and faith is by how we live, talk and treat others. She quoted St Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.”

It dawned on me that meeting in small groups is learning to dance to the rhythm of God's heart beat with Jesus as Lord of our lives.  It has been noted that God designed our relationships with one another to be a diagnostic tool as well as the cure.  Our relationships are to expose the deceitfulness that lies deep in our hearts.  As we become aware of our negative thoughts and unhealthy feelings, we can bring them to the Cross of Christ in prayer so that they may be changed  and our lives transformed. As we do so, the Holy Spirit will bind us together as the Body of Christ. 

When Jesus is not Lord in our meetings, our egos will lead us into fruitless and futile discussions about the bible instead of feeding on the Living Word of God to nurture our souls. So let us learn to dance with Christ with hearts filled with gratitude instead of guilt. Let us rejoice in Christ our Lord so that our lives will be shining beacons of light that draws others from this dark and sorrowful world into God's Kingdom of Love. 

A New Year, A New Identity, A New Commandment

A new year is a time for reflection on our lives and how we have lived our lives. It is a time to live out the Christmas truth that Christ has been born in our hearts. In Christ we have the good news of great joy that we can live as new creations with our new identity as a child of God. We read in 1 John 3:1

“See how much our Father loves us for He calls us His children and that is what we are!"

But first we need to face the bad news. God has created us in His image but our hearts have been corrupted by evil and we have lost our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We live our lives with our egos on the throne of our hearts. We seek pleasure and try to escape from pain,  suffering and death. We seek to live significant lives in a broken and fallen world.  But the real problem is our need to belong to God. In Genesis 8:21 we are reminded that God knows that everything we think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood.

But Jesus came so that we can be reborn again. Our new identity as a child of God is the mystery that God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ as we read in Colossians 1:26-27:

“This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God's people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

Understanding that we are a child of God does not mean that we will live the perfect life.  We are still imperfect but as a child of God, we will have the desire to seek the perfect will of God.  We have the role model of Jesus who came to show us what it means to be a child of God in submission, obedience, communion and service.

We will also seek to obey the new commandment that Jesus gave us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” When we have experienced the wonder of God's love, we will be empowered to love one another.

The challenge for me in this New Year is therefore to learn to surrender all of my life to God so that I will be totally dependent on His grace. I need to cultivate the discipline of repentance so that I will be freed for obedience. I need the discipline of confession as I seek communion with God. Only then will I do good works for His glory and not for mine. My calling is to be a witness of His compassion and righteousness. I can only share what I have experienced. I can only love when I have experienced God’s love.

When we live our lives as a story of God’s love, the truth of Psalm 145:7 will be fulfilled.

"Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness."

May God be glorified in our lives in the new year of 2016.