And there rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. – Deuteronomy 12:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 5, 2018): Deuteronomy 12

I love the words of William W. Purkey. “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.” We need to live this life with abandon, after all, it is the only one we get. There should be a joy that resides inside of us that is bursting to get out. But too often that just isn’t true. I see it, and I hear it, all around me. We seem to believe somehow that either we would be better off without life, or that life would be better off without us. Sometimes it is health issues that bring us to that conclusion, but often I wonder if it is just that we have just set our eyes on the wrong goals and prioritized the wrong things. We want what other people seem to have, rather than being able to be joyful, and to live fully in the present; live in the moments that we have been given. I want to live my life being able to dance like nobody is watching (let’s be honest, that is the only time I really dance). I want to love like I’ll never be hurt. I want to be able to sing like there is no one around me who might be listening. And I want to live like it is heaven on earth.

Charles Spurgeon argued that “All Christian duties should be done joyfully, but especially the work of praising the Lord.” He then goes on to describe some church services that were so sad and slow that he wondered if he would ever escape from their grasp. Later, Spurgeon would reiterate his belief about Christian Worship. “No, no; ‘All that is within me, bless his holy name.’ Come, my heart, wake up, and summon all the powers which wait upon thee! Mechanical worship is easy, but worthless. Come rouse yourself …” Is it possible that we fell spiritually dry because we forget to enter into his presence with purpose and joy? Is it possible that we are spiritually weak because we forget to dance?

Maybe I struggle with worship. I know that as a Pastor, that is probably something I shouldn’t admit. It is not hard for worship to become mechanical, easy, and, as Spurgeon asserts, worthless. It is easy for our worship to become isolated in the moments that we spend in church or in our short private times with God that we might give to him during the week. We forget that everything that we do, and all that we are, belongs distinctly to him. God remains the Lord of all of our moments.  And he is still the author of the dance.

And so a change needs to be made, not just in the isolated moments of our worship, but in the whole of our lives. Somehow, we need to be able to restore the dance that has been missing, because God is watching, and all of this belongs to him. Besides, no matter what is happening in our lives, it is healthy to meet even our struggles with joy.

It is time to begin to live as if heaven is on earth, to love in spite of the hurt, and to sing the song that he places in our hearts. It is time to restore the dance because he is watching. And he is the author of the dance in the first place.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 13