Living in the Upside Down

“Living in the Upside Down” As a believer in Jesus Christ, we have all probably heard the clichés that the Christian life is like a journey, a marathon, not a sprint, etc. And you know what, I like a good road trip as much as the next guy, (especially if there are snacks and a snappy playlist) but some days, I’m just tired. The kind of tired that a nap cannot cure. The kind of tired that Bilbo Baggins describes in “The Hobbit” as “feeling thin, like butter spread over too much bread.” Haven’t we all felt this way at one time or another? Just trying to make it from one day to the next with this weariness deep down in our guts. Not sure if we are making a difference for Christ as we struggle in our marriages, parenting, work, etc.? What are we to do? After all, as believers we truly are blessed to have the presence of the living God within us, so why so downcast? Why so tired? Where has the joy of our salvation gone? This is soul tired, and it solely has a singular upside down cure. The truth of passages like 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 contain our answer. Here, we are encouraged to “boast about your weakness” and you cannot help but ROTFLAAFBYHBLN (roll on the floor laughing and accidently fart because you had beans last night) right there in your office. It is so counter to how we feel that we often cannot reconcile our feelings with the truth of Scripture. But look closer, because feelings are tricky, they change on us, but the solid rock does not. The Apostle Paul, writer of 2 Corinthians, certainly had reason to be tired, even discouraged. Think about it, the man survived a stoning, shipwreck, poisonous snakebite, and imprisonment just to name a few struggles. All for the sake of spreading the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul begged the Lord to remove this unknown “thorn in the flesh” on more than one occasion, but the Lord simply replied, “My grace is sufficient for you” …but notice His response didn’t stop there…He goes on to say “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What an upside down way! Our strength seen as weakness, but our weaknesses, born up by His strength will win the day?! What a strange way indeed, but a way for which we should be thankful. So today, as this follower of Christ walking “the long obedience in the same direction” (Eugene Peterson) who just wants to lay down in the road and take a nap…boast in a God whose grace is more than sufficient to accomplish or “power” all that He has for us to do. Where we are tired, let us call on Him to be our energy. Where we are lacking in compassion, let us call on His heartbeat for the lost and lonely to become our own. Where we lack the power to go another step, let us call on Him to be our strength. And finally, when we diverge from the path and lose sight of our joy, let us call on Him to bring us back, look into the eyes of our great Savior, and respond with a song of praise that declares, “You are my joy”, because His grace is sufficient for us, and His power is made perfect in our weakness! You are loved!