I really don't want to dance for God anymore ... I want to dance with God.Kind of an interesting thought isn't it. I feel that most of my life has been driven by this sense of pleasing God by doing spiritual things ... interesting how subtle this form of performance based spirituality is ... we want to dance for Him when He wants to dance with us. Relationships are all about how we dance ... sad that some of us feel we need to do a tap dance solo rather than a jitterbug or waltz.
In light of these thoughts I would like to take a look at a very well known passage of scripture:
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)
I think that words like sacrifice, transformation and the will of God are concepts that can get weird when they are built on shaky foundations. Sacrifice can become perverted, transformation a formula and God's will a narrow rigid path. Consider the person who interprets 'laying down your life' to mean being a doormat for other people. This person subconsciously believes that their true worth is based on service to others ... a noble thought but truly a performance based version spirituality. A more correct version of this would be when Jesus said this about His life in John 10:18 ...
"No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again."Jesus knew that His life was valuable ... he knew that the decision to lay it down was His call alone ... He could not be manipulated into laying it down against His will ... He wanted to do it ... that is what made it a magnificent act. Likewise, we are not doormats for people or for God ... laying down our lives is truly spiritual when we are doing it because we want to.
Over the years I have heard some pretty weird stuff about God's will. Some use this verse in Romans to separate His will into three categories - good, acceptable and perfect. They build an artificial hierarchy around the will of the Father and create a performance scale to judge themselves by ... have you ever done that? It is another version of performance based thinking ... tap dance is good ... soft-shoe is acceptable ... ballet is perfect ... pretty silly. God doesn't want us to dance for Him ... He wants to dance with us and He doesn't care if it is a tango, a mambo or a waltz ... the dance is ours to choose. I'll go out on a limb here and say this:
Being in God's will is not about what we do but all about who we are and who we are becoming. God's will is that we become like Jesus ... and there are many ways to get there!How often do we seek out God's will to determine whether we do this or do that totally missing the point of 1Corinthians 10:31
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.The glory of God can be manifested in whatever we do. So why do we focus our energies on being in His perfect will? I think that it is yet another way that we try to dance for Him. We say to ourselves: "If I can only do this or do that then I will be in His 'perfect will'". All the while missing the opportunity to dance the dance of love with Him today.
"How often do we seek out God's will to determine whether we do this or do that totally missing the point of 1Corinthians 10:31
ReplyDeleteWhether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Yes, if we do this then all falls into wonderful order, doesn't it? It's pretty simple and we still miss it....or at least I do...
Thanks Karen. I guess the point I was trying to make was that being in God’s will is not about being “led” to do this or that but being led to be like Jesus. I think that God gives us a lot of latitude in choosing a spouse, a vocation and many other important decisions. Many of us feel a need to say that we “feel led” to do this or that because we have not connected with our heart desires.
ReplyDeleteOh, that is sharp! Very cool thought, Kansas Bob!
ReplyDeleteI picture a Daddy with a little girl standing on His feet. What a great thing to have come out of your mouth.
And KB hits one out of the park...HOMERUN! And the Red Sox win!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, KB. There were several lines in there that stuck out to me. One of them was,
"Likewise, we are not doormats for people or for God..."
I read that line and thought, "Now there is a BOLD statement." But after the understanding sunk in, I realized just what a pregnant statement that is in light of the rest of your post. WOW.
Poignant stuff.
"tap dance is good ... soft-shoe is acceptable ... ballet is perfect ... pretty silly."
I'll say! Everyone knows that Tap is the best and most entertaining form of dance!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI am here from codepoke's blog.
Pretty interesting stuff but I can't say that I agree with it all though :)
I gather that you are stressing that what we want to do is better than what we have to do.
God doesn't want us to dance for Him ... He wants to dance with us and He doesn't care if it is a tango, a mambo or a waltz ... the dance is ours to choose.
I don't quite agree with this. If I were to take "dance" as "serve" then I feel that God does want us to serve him and he does mind what we do.
How often do we seek out God's will to determine whether we do this or do that totally missing the point of 1 Corinthians 10:31
But my take is that there is a will of God and the will of God is not "whatever". Paul discusses idolatry in 1 Cor 10. He admonishes the Corinthians about what they are not to do and what they do must glorify God, therefore they should seek out what they should do in the sight of God.
separate His will into three categories - good, acceptable and perfect
This is new to me. I do not accept that too because to me, God's will is God's will, perfect and good.
Just my 2-cents :)
Blessings!
Maeghan
Kansas Bob,
ReplyDeleteMany of us feel a need to say that we “feel led” to do this or that because we have not connected with our heart desires.
I get what you mean here. I use to fall into that category of "felt being led" to do this and that. There is more to it that just our "feelings". It all boils down to our relationship with God - the closer we are to him, the better we know, not feel.
Danny Kaye,
ReplyDeleteI'll say! Everyone knows that Tap is the best and most entertaining form of dance!
Definitely!lol
Maeghan,
ReplyDeleteMy main focus in this post is to say that THE will of God is for us to become like Jesus ... not to do this or do that ... not to perform for God. He can transform us into the image of Jesus whether we ‘do this or do that’ when we ‘do this or do that’ for the glory of God.
The issue I have with ‘serve’ is the idea that many people have about what serving is ... sometimes people make serving look like doing a little tap dance for the Master ... I find serving to look a lot more relational ... looks more like a dialog with the Master rather than a mere obedience to the Master’s command.
I agree that the will of God is not merely ‘whatever’ ... however I do think that His will is very broad ... He has put desires in our hearts ... His will aligns with these desires ... understanding what these desires are – now that is another issue :)
I enjoyed the message, I think this kind of thing bears repeating for quite some time. I think knowing God's will is something we will all atruggle with but it really chalks up to something simple 'do unto others as we would have done unto us'. I agree we have lots of choice in our lives and that has been given by God.
ReplyDeleteThis being 'led' thing is something I also see as a problem because you get some weird perspectives from that, and lots of people get duped by being 'led', since it usually means they are lead by a churches doctrine (or that's their boundaries). Great post, you are real good writer.
I think the point I was getting from you, which seems to have gotten lost, is that God wants us to want Him and desire Him to use us wherever we are at. We seem to ask for God's will in the trivial things of Life that we make out to be Big Issues, ie where shall I go to school, which job should I take, should I move here or there or stay put? Instead, we should make our plans and move according to our hearts desires and let Him use us wherever those choices lead us. I will make my plans Lord, you direct my steps.......
ReplyDeleteWell said Alisa ... living out of our heart is the essence of Proverbs 3:5-6 and 16:9.
ReplyDeleteVery nice brother, very nice. I read this before clocking in at work. It was a good thing. :-}
ReplyDeleteI think God's will is for us to allow Him to wash our feet.
ReplyDeleteWell, better to dance with God than to dance with the devil!
ReplyDelete