This is a message of encouragement that I sent to my dance ministry team the day of our Resurrection Day worship offering. Apply this wisdom to a challenging situation that you may currently be experiencing:
On that dark Friday afternoon, all the hopes, dreams, beliefs of the 10 all but vanished. Had the past 3 years been all in vain? Had we been tricked and been so naive as to believe all that Jesus said to us? (For Andrew, a former disciple of John the Baptist – “Have I chosen the wrong leader again??”) As they walked home in silence – mind swimming and heart-broken, I can only imagine what they felt.
What would you have felt?
That Saturday Sabbath…what would they do? Would they go to synagogue? Would they eventually be arrested, beaten and crucified themselves? How could they face the people, jobs, families and friends that they left behind to follow Jesus? Would would they do now?
All of these human emotions that overwhelmed them those 3 days was NOTHING compared to what Jesus endured all week-long. He knew the pain His physical body would endure. He knew the emotional pain His heart would encounter when the 12 He loved so much would abandon Him at His darkest moment. He knew the spiritual death He would taste for a moment as the Father turned His back on Him due to the garment of OUR sin that now clothed Him. He knew…and still He obeyed.
His disciples tasted a small fraction of the Lord’s agony those 3 days. And because of His love for them and His understanding of the pain and agony they felt, He appeared to them 4 times after His death in order to build up their faith and give them back the courage and boldness the enemy sought to destroy at the cross. He truly did die, but He truly did rise from the grave. And He came back to them to ease their human hearts and minds. He could have gone straight to the Father and let them work it out themselves, but He knew…He always knew how much they would need to be in His presence physically in order to evangelize the nations.
Then, He ascended to the Father with a promise to return. That when He returned, we will all be like Him. No more pain and suffering. No distance from the Father any longer…constant communication forever!
We all knew all week-long the physical, emotional and spiritual pains we would endure for this particular worship offering. We knew just as He knew…but we must obey and keep dancing! Let Him get the glory through our bodies. Our dancing within our own strength is finished! Let the Father raise you out of this mere human dance experience and give you a glimpse of our dance ministry in Heaven.
One final thought…
Imagine that we were all there, His dancers, with the disciples during the 40 days after Christ’s crucifixion when He appeared to them. Imagine being there that final day on the mountaintop when He ascended into Heaven before our eyes and promised that He would come back for us… Think of this dance as the ministry that started after we saw Him ascend that day. How would you dance this piece?
Let’s dance!!
