Sunday

Dancing with the star

Unbelievably, it is one of the most watched shows on TV. It is called Dancing With The Stars. Celebrities, some of them B list, join together with professional dancers and learn how to cha cha, rumba, waltz and tango amongst other things. Each week judges judge, the audience votes and someone is kicked off the show. It is a familiar theme on American television these days. It seems that someone is getting kicked off of some metaphorical island each week. The exception being LOST where people want to get off the island and can’t seem to make it happen no matter how much they blow things up, how many boats they get in or how many airplanes they have.


On Dancing With The Stars, each couple desperately tries for a perfect score of 30 as three judges can give a maximum score of 10 each. To date, this season no one has achieved that mark and frankly most have been a C+ or B- at best, in my opinion. Of course, that does not mean much, I only took Beginner Ballroom and half of Ballroom II.

So why do they do it, and what do they want? They want glory. Everyone wants to be judged well and to receive acclaim for what they have done. Some are willing to work hard. Some are willing to cut corners. Some are will do anything to be viewed highly and to get some glory. The bottom line is that all of us want to be known and loved.

The trophy in Dancing With The Stars is a cheap mirror ball. That is it. There is no cash prize. There is no gold ring. But amazingly, people covet what comes with that trophy: to be known as the best among fans and judges.

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to achieve success. We encourage people to be the best they can be. In fact, God set eternity in our hearts, and we have a desire for glory. If our quest for glory is human-centered though, it will quickly degenerate to a quest for personal power and all the corruption that comes with that. If our quest for glory is God centered, if we are honoring Him as we dance, sing or work at a computer station, our quest is elevated to one of joy and delight. He is the God of great things, and we are called to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

So can we remind all of us, that we should not fix our eyes on the temporary glory of this world? Jesus came, and He is the one we should glorify in all things. That includes dancing. It is His party, and He calls us to keep in step with Him.