The dance goes on.
He got this beautiful dress and matching shoes, because he knew she loved it and it would make her look fabulous.
She was thrilled when she saw it. In fact she felt like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She got herself ready by enjoying a luxuriating bath, then being massaged and soothed with oils he purchased for her. After this she almost oozed herself into the outfit ready to go out with her darling.
As they arrived at the function, admiring glances came from passers-by. Friends approached him to remark how beautiful she looked, how she beamed, how she simply radiated a beauty that went far beyond the surface. She blushed at the compliments but still kept her head held high. He smiled contently knowing that his sacrificial, servant-hearted support of her reflected well on him.
She looked at him adoringly; he saw her so devotedly, she simply was all there was in the world. They faced each other and held each other close as the music began.
And the dance goes on.
The relationship is pretty obvious. When she was valued highly and loved deeply she was receptive to applying what was given for her benefit to the maximum. That reflected on the lover who devoted himself to her. She lived to love him, because she knew he lived to love her. The reciprocity formed a beautiful dance that was not about self but the other.
It doesn’t have to be about dresses and functions. It doesn’t even have to be about husbands and wives. In His last prayer before He was to be taken to be crucified, Jesus called on God to glorify Him as He was about to glorify His Father. That didn’t come through being beautifully adorned. That came through being obedient to death on the cross. That came through submitting to the will of His Father.
The reciprocity was that in being obedient to the point of death on the cross, Jesus would be acclaimed as having the name by which all men must be saved. In doing so, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord … to the glory of His Father.
He now expects His bride to submit to His beautifying and purifying work. He now expects His bride to allow herself to be set in such a way that when the world sees her they will see the love of the Son of God. As His bride we ask Him to glorify us so that we can glorify Him.
Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
We do so by reflecting those same characteristics that not just took Him through suffering and death on the cross but through resurrection power and being seated at God’s right hand.
The presence, power and person of God so effuses and infuses you that you are able to do that which will bring Him glory. That comes from identifying His will, looking for His way and then pursuing that. He glorifies us, so we can glorify Him.
This is the dance of reciprocity in which we’re called to engage. In the light of his redeeming work in our lives we are compelled with His love to engage. His Spirit draws us on, and we are enveloped in His grace to point others to His glory.
We are embraced in His grace to humbly serve others. We are embraced in His grace to speak for and help the vulnerable. We are embraced in His grace to exhibit forgiving and merciful qualities under great pressure. We are embraced in His grace to declare His goodness in all creation. We are embraced in His grace to demonstrate Christ-centred community that looks to the interests of others as more important than our own.
As we are embraced in His grace and adorned in His glory, so we are equipped to bring glory to Him.
And the dance goes on.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 