Perspective: Walking with Rhythm

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Walking with Rhythm

Scripture:

Don't love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. Everything that is in the world - the craving for whatever the body feels, the craving for whatever the eyes see and the arrogant pride in one's possessions - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world and its cravings are passing away, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.

1 John 2:15-17 (CEB)

Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God's will is - what is good and pleasing and mature.

Romans 12:2 (CEB)

You came from Heaven to Earth
To show the way

From "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" by Rick Founds

It is not uncommon for me to spend some time after work walking around at the local shopping mall. In the mall, there is a particular trendy clothing store. Though I have never been inside this store, I cannot help but notice the music coming from inside the store every time I pass by. The song differs from time to time, but I have noticed a consistent pulsating techno beat. If I am not careful, I will find myself walking in step with the beat of the music. Because of this, I sometimes intentionally walk out of step with the music.

I have since realized that whether I am unintentionally walking in step with the music or intentionally walking out of step with the music, I am letting the beat of the music affect how I walk.

There are many spiritual implications here, as the rhythms all around us often affect how we walk through life. For example, it has been said that "he who angers you, controls you." There is truth in this saying, at least when our anger provokes us to action. When we act out of anger, whether or not our actions are in direct opposition to the people or things that are making us angry, the anger still affects what we do. By acting out of anger, we essentially give the things that anger us direct influence over our lives.

The rhythms around us can affect us in different ways. Often we find ourselves walking in step with the rhythm or "going with the flow." Other times we seek to walk out of step with the rhythm or to go against the current, not unlike salmon that swim upstream.

In many Christian circles, the term worldly has become a dirty word. Christians cite the words of early church fathers as a call to swim against the current of the world and to abstain from "worldly" things. St. John writes, "Don't love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them." St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, writes, "Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world." Many see such verses as a call to be countercultural, to live contrary to the dominant culture.

The problem with this attitude is that it still gives the dominant culture influence over how we live our lives. Our focus is still on the world.

I believe that these exhortations by John and Paul are not necessarily a call to walk out of step with the rhythm of the world, but are instead a call to walk in step with a different rhythm altogether. John goes on to define the "things in the world" as temporal things, things that pass away. He exhorts us to not seek after temporal things but instead to seek God's will, which is eternal. Paul, after calling us to not conform to the world, calls us to be transformed so that we may discern God's will for our lives. John and Paul want us to take our focus off of the world and to redirect our focus to God.

These teachings of John and Paul do not call us to be countercultural and to thereby conform ourselves to what the world is not. Instead, these teachings call us to realign ourselves completely, to walk in step with God's rhythm. St. Peter exhorts us to walk in step with the example set for us by Jesus Christ.¹ Christ was honest and forgiving. He loved other people, proclaimed a message of hope, and helped the afflicted wherever He went.

As this new year begins, let us take some time examine the different rhythms that influence our lives. Let us resolve to not walk out of step with rhythms we disdain, and let us resolve to instead walk in step with the rhythms that affect us positively and bring us closer to God.


Notes:
1 - 1 Peter 2:21


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