The Dance part 2
Here's the thing about dancing: It takes two to tango. And I know that you can dance all by yourself. And I know that if your friends don't dance then they're no friends of mind. But, as we saw yesterday, it is God who dances over us. It is God who dances IN us. That's so key. Because it takes away the whole idea of us doing something FOR God. God doesn't need anything from us. He is the Creator of everything. In Psalms 50:6 God tells us, "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof." If God had a need, He wouldn't bring it to us. Because He doesn't want anything FROM us. He, like a loving heavenly Father, wants things FOR us. In fact, God wants the BEST for us. That's why He gave the best (Jesus) TO us. We HAVE to get away from this servant (slave) mentality. Psalms 40:6 tells us that, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required." See, it's not about what we can do. Not even about what we can do for God. It's about what HE did (both for us and as us) and what HE can do in us and through us and as us. That's what life is about. Not serving an angry taskmaster who is just waiting for us to mess up so he can get us... but enjoying a dance with the One who loves us and will never leave us nor forsake us. Way back in the garden of Eden God made a statement, "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18). And what always struck me about this statement was that man WASN'T alone. There was God and there was man. There was the Creator and the creation. But, from Adam's point of view, there was nobody around that was like him. Because even though Adam was made in the image of likeness of God, he didn't know it. He didn't know what God looked like, so he didn't know what HE looked like. He needed a companion. He needed someone to dance with, if I can say it that way. So God made all the animals and none of them were quite right. So God put Adam to sleep and brought forth out of him a help meet for him. Out of one He made two. Unfortunately, this duality--this splitting of spirit and soul--got man into a lot of trouble. But it was all part of the plan. Because at the appointed time Jesus took the two--Jews and gentiles--and put them back together in Himself. After thousands of years of man trying to figure out how to dance--how to live--Jesus came and showed us the steps. He drew us to Himself with open arms on the cross. He didn't just give us life, He gave us HIS life. HIS dance. He brought us out of death and into abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. Not a life of servitude, but a life a life of service. Not a servant trying to be a Son, but a Son with a servant's heart. Not dancing with fear of messing up, but dancing with freedom, because we know that our partner won't let go, even if we stumble and fall!