Doing the Dance

I was talking with a coworker Daryl the other day about the flow of the work we do behind the counter. It's a small space and we often have to dodge one another or reach around one another to get to a particular piece of equipment, computer or stack of papers. As the "trainee" I watched him one day and told him that he "had the dance steps all down". In other words, he had a pattern of movement, he knows how to move efficiently and reach each machine or paper as it was needed.

When we serve our God we do the same thing according to a pattern shown us in the New Testament. Paul encouraged Timothy regarding the pattern he followed in

2 Timothy 1:12a-13 where he wrote: "Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus."

I remember seeing an advertisement many years ago for a program to teach you how to dance. You took paper cutouts that looked like shoe soles and placed them on the floor in a particular pattern. Then you practiced following that pattern with your own feet as you taught yourself to dance. If it worked everyone was happy.

God's Word gives us the pattern, the steps to follow for us to make God happy and to be happy ourselves. If you want to know how to serve God, then follow the pattern. Many today are telling you that the pattern of God's word is outdated or no longer relevant, but that's not true. God has given us His Word and he intends for it to last forever with no additions or subtractions. Now you can argue with me about that, but how are you at arguing with God.

Jesus himself said, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.  And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll." (Revelation 22:18-19)

So could it be that as you dance through this life you need to pay a little closer attention to the pattern which God has laid down for us?