Yes, you busted me!  It’s actually Saturday!  But yesterday, focusing on my firstborn’s birthday was a priority, so here we are with slightly late Favorite Friday!

I’m not sure what your “religious paradigm” involves, but I was raised in a non-conservative denomination with solid faith foundations that I am very thankful to have embraced.  However, as I explore the difference between Kingdom Culture as evidenced in the life of Jesus, outlined in the Word, and confirmed by the Holy Spirit and America’s version of Christian culture, I realize that much of what I was raised with is definitely rooted in the latter instead of the authentic Kingdom Culture.

I could give you various examples of how historically many cultures have translated Kingdom culture through the lens of their own culture, but I will give you this biblical example:  When the Gentiles joined the rank of believers, the Jews felt that they should be circumcised because that was Jewish law.  However, Paul contended that under the New Covenant, it was a circumcision of the heart God expected, not the physical body (Romans 2).  Physical circumcision was Jewish culture; heart circumcision (spiritual submission to the Lord) is Kingdom culture!

All that to say, that I was raised believing that dancing was not appropriate in the Christian culture unless you were dancing “in the Spirit” (II Sam. 6:14).  Sound familiar?  As I’ve grown as a person and a believer, I understand that while dancing in the Spirit is a very valid (and biblical) act, dancing in and of itself is not wrong either!  I love that!  I love that we can worship the Lord with dance (Psalm 149) and we can also just have fun dancing (Jeremiah 31:4)!  Dancing is healthy for our minds and bodies!¹  (Caveat: like anything else, dancing can become negative but that’s not the subject of this blog!)

Then I stumbled upon this song by MercyMe in one of my playlists:

Love it!

“We’ve got reason to get up 
Reason to get down
He done traded our sin for joy
And now, that joy wants out”²

Don’t wait! Play the song and jump out of your chair to dance!

“It’s okay, to cut loose
Oh, it ain’t about how you move, but what moves you
We’re so consumed with what we think we’re supposed to be
That we stop living like we know that we’re free”²

Dance because you are free!

Live Loved,

¹Dancing Makes You Feel Better article

²Lyrics from Happy Dance by Mercy Me