Live upside down.

I am being ROCKED this week. From conversations that I am having with peers, my personal relationship with Christ, and also my wisdom class. There have been so many times this week that I have heard EXACTLY what I needed to hear. At times I have even got a little feeling in my stomach, because what I was hearing was so convicting, and like I said, exactly what I needed to hear.

Here is an excerpt from my Biblical Wisdom and Human Behavior class, that I thought was so great. It is concerning the ways of the world and the ways of the Lord. It gives good insight on how worldly living and Biblical living are "upside down" from one another:

[The Kingdom of God operates upside down to the ways of the world. When we set out to follow Christ we are starting on an upside down journey to rescue (salvation) and freedom. Many times the value structure is upside down to the world's. The manner in which we operate is upside down to the world's. The way we handle relationships is quite different from what the world would do. The way we operate looks "down" to the world, but it is actually the only way "UP", the only way to freedom and good things. The journey toward wisdom is upside down to the way the world tries to achieve success. Since Christ came to the earth, to pursue the way of wisdom is to walk with Jesus Christ, doing the will of God. The counterfeit wisdom whispers to us through our culture that one does not have to be so extreme in following Christ, that there is some way to work out a compromise with the ways of this world so that one can be "good enough" to get into heaven and yet still "bad enough" to enjoy the good things of this world. In this upside down world the way of the cross (self-denial to the point of death, if necessary, for Christ) is the way of life. There are several "themes of the upside down Kingdom" from Jesus' teachings. They are challenging for they are very different from the way the culture around us operates. They are also different from our native self-will, pride, and willingness to hurt others.]




I took time to really think about this, this week. How "upside down" am I living? Our culture gives us resources, guides, and tools to live just like everyone else. We have television, internet, and the list goes on to sort of form us to what the culture expects. However, Christ calls us to something very much different than this cultural norm.

May I be transparent: The last few months of my life, my mind has been consumed by one thing: me. My future, my calling, my career, my life.  I am stressed to the max, and worried about what I am doing next and where I will be. I think I have exhausted this subject to those that are close to me (Thank you for your support guys! and I am sorry I focus on this so much!).  But the truth is, I want to know.  Well, the Lord works in wondrous ways. I sat down to do my wisdom packet that I do every single week. This week it was  composed of 17 pages. I could NOT WAIT to get this stupid thing over with. But wow. The Lord really spoke to me. I never do the packed in one setting, so I started on Monday. The packed started with the excerpt that I shared prior, and then it went into taking the focus off of yourself, and focusing on Christ, TRUSTING Him. 
I decided that I could not do this on my own, so Tuesday I spend the day fasting and being quiet. Instead of eating, I read my Bible and just talked to God. I asked Him to help me. I am a fleshly child of His and I need HIM. I asked Him to teach me how to trust Him, and to teach me how to live that out in my life. Well, He has definitely used this week to teach me. It is now Thursday, and I have sat down once again to work on my packet. I actually keep getting goose bumps after what I have been reading in this packet.  I absolutely needed every word of these today:

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.