Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
~ Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV)
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Jesus really upset the apple cart when He came on the scene. He simply talked upside-down from all human nature, traditions, and religious and social protocol. Everything that had been accepted and modeled throughout time was challenged by Jesus, and the "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7 had to have blown the listeners away...
~ I'm blessed if I'm poor?
~ Rejoice if I'm persecuted for Jesus' sake?
~ I'm a murderer if I simply hate in my heart?
~ Just take an insult and even let them do it to me more than once?
~ Love those who hate me, and do good to them?
Like I said, very upside-down thinking in most people's eyes. No wonder the Bible says that God's ways are higher than man's ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:9). They're light years away from our thinking!
When someone insults us, we insult back...not turn the other cheek. When Christians are persecuted around the world, we mourn...not rejoice. When we square off with an enemy, we want vengeance...not peace. That's human nature and how the world operates, right?
God invaded the world to let us know we had it all wrong. We needed the "up-close-and-personal" touch so that could really hear God's plan for godly living. We heard it, and we saw it. Jesus not only said the words, but lived them, too. We saw first-hand what it was like to talk the walk, and walk the talk.
There was a song years ago with a line that has stuck with me...
John has a new way of looking at life
He's tired of his job, his kids and his wife
He says the secret to his success
Was in leaving and finding himself
Now he's someone to somebody else.
And you say we've risen to a new age of truth
You're calling it a spiritual Godly pursuit
But I say, I say,
(chorus)
What if we've fallen to the bottom of a well
Thinking we've risen to the top of a mountain
What if we're knocking at the gates of hell
Thinking we're heaven bound
What if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves
When we should have been thinking of each other
What if we reach up and touch the ground
To find we're living life upside down.
We've got a program for saving the earth
While unborn children are denied their right to birth
One baby's blessed, another cursed
Have we made this world better or worse
Now that the life of a tree comes first
And you say we've risen to a new age of light
You're telling me what used to be wrong is now right
But I say, I say,
(repeat chorus)
What if we're living, what if we're living,
What if we're living life upside down.
~ Living Life Upside Down, by Russ Lee
...what if we reach up and touch the ground to find we're living life upside down...
What a visual, huh?
Like the school parking patrol woman in the film, "Mr. Mom", who made Michael Keaton roll his car window down in the pouring rain as he tried to drop his kid off at school, simply saying, "You're doing it wrong..." -- that's what Jesus said all through His ministry. We're doing it wrong. We think we know the right way to live, but God let us know that we're living life upside down.
When a person chooses to follow Jesus, they're accepting an upside down life. Instead of following their natural inclinations, they follow God -- a radical reorientation of thought processes and actions. And although they seem crazy, God says it is the right path for real life.
So, which path are you on? Are you upside down, or right side up?
Love,
Joelene
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