Day 40: Living Upside Down (Acts 17:1-15)
Today’s Passage: Acts 17:1-15
Movies love to highlight the free-spirit character, the one who “dances to the beat of a different drum”.
Their world is somehow disconnected from the worries which hold sway over most of us. Perhaps, they are remarkably less concerned about what others think.
Their world seems to be very opposite of ours, you might even say upside down.
Chapters 15:36 to 18:32 documents what is referred to as “Paul’s Second Missionary Journey”. In the last few posts I have dug into the geography, and even a little Greek, pondering how far they walked, where they went, and what Luke was trying to tell us.
Continuing that line of inquiry would prove fascinating. Afterall, it is in the Second Journey where Paul plants Christianity in Europe (although he did not think of it that way). He goes to the major cities, capitals of provinces and centers of culture. In all, we could spend weeks in just these few chapters.
Digging deeply into the technical details of Scripture, while fascinating, can become too much about me gaining more information—when what I need is more transformation.
Therefore, let me take a different approach. Verse 17:6 says, “…these men who have turned the world upside down…”
Hmmm, seems like their upside-down living is having an impact.
We’ve read how this “band of merry-men and women” seems impervious to all sorts of abuse. Rather than prove a curiosity that others make fun of, they in fact have a real impact, planting churches as they go along their way.
Now I am not suggesting we all quit our jobs and start roaming the highways and byways in an effort to plant churches—unless of course the Lord is leading you to.
Instead, I am asking myself, “What does upside down living look like for me?”
What does it mean to live my life, free from the expectations this world is pressing upon me, filled with confidence in the love of my eternal Father? Can I even describe it?
Seriously, can I describe it?