Dancing With The Devil!

Surprised are you? About the title I mean. We’ve all been caught up with dance crazes from long ago and many people frowned upon the types of dances from back then the same way we do now. However much I love dancing, this is really not about a new dance craze; it’s about the dance craze that most people do until they come to the realization that this dance—is one we should all sit out—becoming a wall-flower in the dance-hall of life.

James tells us to, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us,” (4:7). So, if that’s true, why do so many people think that they can entertain the devil and escape the consequences that are bound to result from being around him?

Perhaps, I’m being too subtle. We engage in a dance with the devil when—we think we can “try” drugs and escape addiction. We think we can be “sexually promiscuous” and escape the consequences of our actions—unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, damaged self-esteem, and negative labelling by others. We think we can “listen to peers” especially children and disrespect parents and other adults without dealing with the consequences that could end up in locked out of a home and locked into a system that does nothing to promote well-being. We think we can “hang out” with the dope dealers and not get burned when they do. We think we can “steal our way” out of poverty only to discover that theft is not the way when we get caught and go to jail. We think we can “outsmart” parents and the law until we see our faces plastered on social networks or the news—on the most wanted criminal postings.

Anytime, we think we can do wrong and get away it—we’re dancing with the devil leading us into darkness and possible death. We must remember that the devil—that master of deception and father of liars—gets his kicks from seeing us getting into hot water with no way out of it. He laughs at the follies of his followers, cheering them on from the sidelines—showing them how to get swallowed up into the pit in which they have fallen.

Think about the people who believe that gambling is a way out of debt. The devil is leading this dance all the way to the poor house or suicide. He encourages the loser to try, “just more time” and then sits giggling hysterically when they lose even more. He loves to watch how they scramble trying to manipulate others into letting them have more money to lose and some resort to stealing because they believe—they need just more try.

Think about the people who live in abusive situations in which the devil manipulates the abuser and the abused. He convinces the abuser to keep abusing in order to control others, but then he also convinces the abused to believe the abuser when they apologize, beg for forgiveness and then they stay—for more abuse. 

Think about those people—specifically parents—who allow others to babysit for them and they abuse their children. Without a certain knowledge of those who have been trusted, we open the door for the dance and then when he leads, we get frustrated and angry. When we should have been looking into the backgrounds of those we choose to trust, we don’t. When we should trust our children to tell us the truth we don’t and allow the abuse to continue when we keep getting the same people to babysit.

Stay tuned for Part 2--coming tomorrow and while you wait--toss that dance card aside, never to be used again.