Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" and then He tells us the second greatest commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)
It's as simple as that. Love God. Love your neighbor. Simple. Very simple. It really doesn't get much simpler than that. So why do we make it so complicated?
I don't love God. I don't know how to. It's been my desire and prayer that I would fall head-over-heals in love with God. I don't believe I can fall in love with God without His help. He is love so I need Him to show me how to love.
Let's tie these two together. Serve. Love. I believe, and am being taught, that to love is to serve. To serve is to love. Out of my love for God I should desire then to serve Him. And as I serve Him I am showing Him that I love Him. Simple.
I don't serve my friends, the ones I spend countless hours with each day, because I don't love them. Why don't I love them? Because I'm so involved with myself. I'm quite a selfish person, thinking of myself most of the time. It's not about me though. It's not. It never has been. It never will be.
God is calling me to strip off and lay aside the sin that so easily entangles me. Pride. Selfishness. Laziness. Apathy. And He is asking me to clothe myself in Him. To put on compassion, love, joy, peace, kindness, humility.
This isn't just a me thing but the community in which I live is struggling with the same thing. We're pretty selfish. That's a harsh word to take, but it's true. How can we function as a church, as a body of believers, if we're thinking of only ourselves?
Another word. Pray. We do not pray enough. We do not pray enough for the city in which we live. We do not pray enough for the world in which we live. Prayer is the key to God's heart. I heard that once. The more we pray the more we know God.
We are not walking with God.
I have been reading this book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places written by Eugene Peterson, and he mentions 'dancing with God'. I can't even begin to describe to you how powerful those words are to me .... 'dancing with God'. My only prayer is that as you read those words God will give you revelation of what it means. I don't even know what it means yet. I'm still chewing on it. But if you could imagine dancing with God, being apart of everything He does. Letting Him lead you in all you do. Never letting go. A dance that never ends.
I have a desire to dance with God. I pray that you would too. I pray that the church would dance with God. Because, whatever it means to dance with God, we are not doing it. He desires to dance with us. I have this vision in my head right now ....
I see a high school gymansium. The lights are low. There are streamers hanging from the ceiling and music is playing in the background. In the center of the gym I see God. He is standing there, holding out his hand, in my direction. I cannot see myself, but I know I am sitting in a chair up against the wall along with the rest of the church. We see Him, but we are not taking His hand. He is waiting. He has been waiting for a long time.
If we only knew the beauty of the life we would have if only we took His hand and let Him lead us in this dance. But we're scared, we're lazy, self-seeking, prideful and so we don't take His lead.
I want to know what this dance is. I want to know the beauty of dancing with my God. So whatever it takes, whatever it means, I am going to let Him lead me in this dance. This dance is more than you can imagine. This dance is bigger than you think. This dance will change your life and the life of the world around you.
Ask God about it. Seek Him out and ask Him about this dance.
I urge you to dance with God.
-Rebecca Lewis
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