Walking With God: Dancing

I have tried to put this down several times. It is very hard for me to express. I supposed this could me that I am not very clear in my thinking yet.

Religions and philosophies cover the same ground and answer the same big questions about life. Anyone can observe the world and realize that something is broken. So, religions and philosophies try to describe and define the brokenness; and they try to prove or demonstrate what lies at the root of the brokenness.

Most religions and philosophies also recognize the aspirations of the human heart -- that feeling that people have that life was meant to be wondrous. There are qualities of human life that we do not experience except in faint glimpses, but which we should experience all the time. Things like joy, peace, meaning, beauty and significance. We should be whole hearted, loving,m gracious and overcoming. And whole segments of populations are not like this. For example, poverty is not just a lack of stuff. It is a heart condition that negates most of the ideals mentioned above.

Religions and philosophies also try to proscribe a solution to the brokenness. They attempt to communicate a way to climb out of the hole. Usually, it is a way to conduct ourselves. Follow this formula of life and you will build muscles that will let you fly far above the broken lands, and above the ordinary to the extraordinary. 

That's one reason Jesus attracted so much attention. He did seem to soar. He did seem to know where he was, where he was going and how he was getting there. He never did anything wrong, but was never surprised by other people's failures. He loved and accepted everyone. The only people who seemed to get to him were those who were not honest about their personal brokenness. People who believed everyone else was wrong, but they themselves never were. He was drawn to people who were humble. Ie. honest and realistic about who they were and what they did.

Jesus' message was for those humble people. Those people were honest about their brokenness and failures. Those people were ready for help. And he was ready to give that help. That help changed the basic fabric of creation. The brokenness destroyed any change for a God-man relationship. His help re-aligned creation and that relationship was possible.

Many have stepped toward God on the basis of what Jesus did. We have begun a relationship with him. We have begun a healing process.

To walk with Jesus means growing into a rhythm of life with him. He lived a life of rhythm with the Father. We need to develop the same rhythm. And we are definitely all thumbs, two left feet and a tin ear. But he is slowly leading us in learning the dance.

It is a very subtle, complicated dance. It works its way though a person's heart and a person's heart is very complicated. So, we need him to lead. Even with him leading, we will still trip and step on people's feet. But we will grow into being skillful partners of the dance.

To follow his lead is more than take two steps forward, two steps back and spin. You can watch a whole roomful of people doing the Electric Slide. It is soon evident that there is more to dancing than just moving your feet. And it is evident who the real dancers are.

To repeat myself in perhaps a more poetic form, people are fascinated with Jesus because he could do the dance of life so much better than anyone else. And so we need to learn from him how to dance. Which means we will need to hear his heart if we want to learn more than take two steps forward. And he wants to teach us more than that.