Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Dancing with God


Recently, we talked about the symbolic significance of walking and running with God.  Today, I thought it would be fun to consider our relationships with God as a dance. :-)  For our discussion, think of God as the man dancer and us as the female partner.  Weird for you male readers, I know, but it's not like it's a new concept to you. ;-)

In a ballroom dance, the man leads - every single step.  Without this, the dance becomes chaotic.  Just the same, we need to let God lead us every single step of our lives.  Sometimes we fall into the mistake of either only seeking God's will in the big things (like trusting Him for our spouse or career, but not daily hobbies and interactions) or in only the small things (like being willing to give money and time, but then go and marry a non-believer or ignore His call to whatever career/ministry He has planned for us).  The proper approach is to let Him lead everything.

In a dance, there is also constant close contact.  I know I say this quite a bit, but it is utterly critical that we all strive to fulfill the command to pray without ceasing - to stay in contact with God throughout the day, not just in "formal" prayer at mealtimes and devotional times.

Because of the close contact, when one of the dancers' foot trips, the other dancer can catch them and keep them from falling.  Just the same, if we are truly staying that close to God, whenever we stumble into sin, our fall will not be nearly so huge as it could have been - only a minor trip, and then back in His arms like we are supposed to be.

Finally, a woman spends much of a dance going backward.  She cannot see where she is going, but she trusts in the controlled progression of the dance.  It's precisely the same for we Christians!  We can't always see where God is leading us in our lives, but we know that He is in absolute control.

What parallels between dancing and Christianity can you see?

Image:  "Dancers Vernon and Irene Castle" by Francis Benjamin Johnston.  Wikipedia.  Public domain in the United States.

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