In an increasingly upside-down world, what should our response be? There isn’t a day that goes by that something catastrophic hasn’t happened. All of us have tunnel vision and focus mainly on what is happening in the countries we are living in, naturally this is the case. It’s tempting to think that our troubles are unique and worse than everyone else’s. But if we open our eyes we’ll see that the whole world is in anguish. The struggle is real everywhere.
Matthew 24:7,8 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
It can’t get any worse
Life seems to get increasingly complicated with every event and crisis that presents itself. Yet people find a way around the trouble. When the wars of the 1990s raged in the Great Lakes region of Africa and people were dying by the hundreds of thousands, those remaining found a way to survive. Now, here we are, decades later facing new and somehow more complicated problems. In the shadows of the new problems, lies the devastation of generations past.
Just when we think “it can’t get any worse” it somehow does get worse. I’ve spent many years living in Burundi. I wondered (and still wonder) how things could possibly get worse than what they were during the wars and then after the Covid pandemic? We struggled to get food for our feeding program and medical care for the sick. However today, decades since the wars and several years since Covid, things are worse. There isn’t all-out war and the borders aren’t closed, but there’s no fuel to be found. And, if you do find fuel, you pay triple the cost. Consequently, because there’s so little fuel, food prices are increasing daily, people are going hungry. And when people are hungry, they will do almost anything to find food. The world is upside-down and the struggle is real.
Upside-down and over our pay grade
I don’t write any of this to depress you, although it is horribly depressing information. All of these signs point to what we have long been waiting for, the coming of Christ. It will happen, but we aren’t to worry about the “when.” Do you remember those books from the 1980s talking about 88 or 89 reasons why Jesus will come? Someone made lots of money off of people’s fear of the future. The “when” isn’t for us to know, we aren’t meant to know. That kind of information is above our pay grade.
Matthew 24:42-44 NKJV “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Instead of following the trend of wringing our hands in worry (and worry produces nothing good), a better response would be to actually follow God’s advice. How does He advise us to respond to an upside-down world?
Luke 21:28 NKJV “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
I’ll stay in my wheelhouse thank you
I don’t want to dabble too much in eschatology, that, too, is above my pay grade 😂. I know how to stay in my wheelhouse. But I believe that responding with hope to what lies ahead of us is a far better response than fearing what we see in the present. After all, what do we hope in? What is the basis for our fear? Those of us who say we are followers of Jesus should be an example of peace in a storm for the rest of the world. This would give them hope for their future.
But, unfortunately, many believers have taken their eyes away from God’s counsel and instead of “lifting up” their eyes, they look down. In looking down they stumble and fall at every whim of the world. Election cycles, weather events, and wars give them reason to worry. Thus, the Great Commission once again becomes an omission in the church world. We’ve given world events priority over our hope. We no longer look forward to what is ahead. Unfortunately, we concentrate on the troubles of our lives that we live in an upside-down world.
Nothing new
Titus 2:11-14 TLB “For the free gift of eternal salvation is now being offered to everyone; and along with this gift comes the realization that God wants us to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures and to live good, God-fearing lives day after day, looking forward to that wonderful time we’ve been expecting, when his glory shall be seen—the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He died under God’s judgment against our sins so that he could rescue us from constant falling into sin and make us his very own people, with cleansed hearts and real enthusiasm for doing kind things for others.”
The enemy, Satan, hasn’t changed his tactics since time began. He works to distract and deceive. How many of us have been distracted from doing good and reaching the world for Jesus? God’s not taken unaware. He is very well aware of what is happening in this, our upside-down world and He is still in control.
Warning: the following is an unpopular opinion! Read with caution.
We can no more stop the end times from unraveling than we can stop the sun from rising. Instead of fearing what lies ahead, let us look forward in hope. We have a message in us that can give hope to the hopeless. Not only that, but we give hope to the world by what we do. You may not live in a country where food is scarce, for example, but there are hungry people. Offering a meal to a single mother or volunteering at a food bank are ways we can bring hope to those who need it.
This is how we are to respond in an upside-down world, to look forward in hope and live in kindness towards others. Imagine if we all had the courage to live this way.
