I think when I say ''Hokey Pokey'' we all get the image in our heads of a silly dance where you put your right hand in, then your left hand, right foot, left foot, shake um all about and then take them all out again. Silly dance right? I am sure that most of us have at one time or another participated in the ''Hokey Pokey'' and had a great time to boot! Well, I got to thinking this morning about the Hokey Pokey in a much more sinister way. Picture with me for a moment a Christian dancing the Hokey Pokey only now when they put their hands and feet in they are putting them in the world, being a part of the world. Come on they beckon, it's only a silly dance! There is no harm in it! Look at the fun we are having! Here, drink this! Smoke that! Feast your eyes on this! Look at all this cool stuff!
Dangerous ground! Flirting with the world. How often do I find myself doing the Hokey Pokey with the world? How often do you? Silly dance right?
1 Jn 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
It is total and complete foolishness to flirt with the world in this way. I know that. You know that, yet there are times when we are sucked into the same trap over and over again. We convince ourselves that it is only a silly dance again and again. Why is it so difficult for us to get it through our heads that sin is dangerous! There is a silly dance called the Hokey Pokey. There is no such thing as silly sin though, it is sinister! It is that same silly sin that we flirt with that put Jesus on the cross. It is that same silly sin that caused God to know death. Imagine eternal God knowing death! It is that same sin that had God the Father to turn his back on God the Son. The same God that loved the Son with a love that is so much better then you or I could ever comprehend. No, there is no silly sin. Let us stop this Hokey Pokey with the world. Let us look to God and God alone for our Joy not to the silly (sinister) sins of this world!
2 comments:
I've come back to read this blog post several times now. Why do we flirt with the enemy? Why do we return to things that we have long since known (after repeated failings) do not satisfy?
It's not like we forgot that some of these things are sin. But, we do seem to downplay the penalty/cost of the crime don't we? After all, the penalty has been paid and God's wrath/judgement met, right?!
And perhaps we carelessly treat our flesh as though it does not lead to death. Paul nails this false-reality hard in Romans 7-8. 'Those who are in the flesh cannot please God'. So if we are surrendering to the flesh, we are glorifying ourselves and mocking God and the Cross.
This hokey-pokey I do with the flesh kills me... the Word is clear, 'for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.'
It is that cross-centered focus that keeps Jesus Christ always in view as my Savior and Redeemer, the Lamb slain and the risen Lord. And the cross keeps sin (my sin) and my ever-present need for the Gospel always in view as the eternal reality of God's grace and mercy to me, a wretched sinner.
That silly little dance is a killer in so many respects and for the one who belongs to God, it is a thief of godly affections, a joy-killer, and a destroyer of passionate hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
Brother Rob, thank you for these words, thank you for bringing the Truth to bear on my/our careless dance with the devil.
Keep it coming... as God puts His word on your heart.
That's good stuff. I know that in my life, I have to recognize the actions or attitudes that lead me not just to sin, but to weaknesses that lead me to temptation that leads me to sin! It's so important to put out the little fires before they get bigger.
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