The Upside Down

Take a moment and hike up the mountain known as your life.

Now, be still and breathe. Look down.

What do you see? This life that you’ve created; what does it look like? I wonder how many of us, if we would step away, would come to realize we have fallen for the machine of productivity and consumerism. Does your life really look any different than the world around you? How many of us dream of escaping our reality so much that we are barely awake in our day to day?

Of course, many of us have good intentions. We buy homes picturing all the dinner parties we will host. We get the next gadget believing it will help us be more productive and therefore more present. We go into debt to alleviate potential stresses. And yet, the Gospel tends to flip our productivity on its head. It tells us to do more with less over and over and over again.

In the upside-down Kingdom of God, the way we view and interact with the world should look very different.

In Luke 16:8 we read about a manager that forgave the debts of his master’s servants behind his back. The manager took advantage of his master’s generosity and forgave debts for his own personal advancement.

How often do we spend God’s money for our own personal advancement? Ouch. If this isn’t all up in your business, take a hike up the mountain of your life again. Where are you spending your resources: your time, your money, your knowledge and love? What has God given to you that you’ve wasted away for your own advancement?

The American Dream has woven itself into our Christian faith. We choose zipcodes, salaries, cars, schools, and more based on what makes us comfortable and content. Hear me when I say not all wealth is wrong and not all comfort is bad. But are we stewarding those zip codes, salaries, cars, schools and more based on the upside-down Kingdom of God or for sloth-like-comfort and selfish ambitions? Verse eight tells us that those who walk in the light are good stewards of what has been given to them. So, are you?