Upside-Down is Right-Side Up

In Kindergarten, we teach a unit on "plant needs." At that age, you keep it to the bare basics: a plant needs water, air, sun, and dirt. If you're missing any one of those four essentials, even if you have the other three, your plant doesn't maintain any viability; it will eventually die.

What we don't delve into yet, but what the student will eventually find out, is that too much of those same elements will also kill the plant. For example, a plant awash in water (like in a flood), though it might still have air, sun, and dirt, will likely die unless its circumstances change quickly.

My husband bought a beautiful potted flower and brought it home for me with the idea that I could choose a spot in my flower beds to plant it. It was beautiful and brilliant yellow and a perfect complement to the place right by our porch steps where it got the best sun. I checked the tag; it recommended full sun exposure, so I dug the hole.

However, the spot I'd chosen turns into an oven during the summer, and I hadn't realized this. It's sheltered by the deck, which traps the light and the heat, and my beautiful flower, though gathering all the sun I wanted it to have... got cooked, the poor dear. 

It had gotten too much sun, and consequently, it wilted and died, and returned its plant parts to the ground, which turned into compost to be used as nutrients to feed a hardier plant later.

Okay, so much for analogies. I read two whole verses today in my super-speedy readthrough of the book of James. We're in James 1:9-11 today. 

"The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business."

At first, I stumbled over the wording: "take pride in." It seemed to clash with Philippians 2:5-7: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant..."

If my attitude is supposed to be the same as that of Christ Jesus -- that is, an attitude that considers all others better than myself... how can I take pride in anything?

So I went hunting down Biblical commentaries to see what was up, reading at least ten or fifteen well-established authors. Nowhere in any explanation of this text is the word "pride" mentioned. The phrase "take pride in" (NIV) is perhaps a less-than-the-best translation of a phrase that more accurately means: "to exalt in" or "to glory in." 

Rereading the text with this new understanding: "The brother in humble circumstances ought to glory in his high position. But the one who is rich should glory in his low position..."

Wait, what? Humble position = high position? Rich = low position? James isn't even putting the idea out there for debate; he's already assuming that it's true: Rich = low, and humble (or impoverished) = high. 

That caught me off-guard (weird, because I've read this text a bajillion times, but I guess I never really paused on it before). Automatically, when I think of the wealthy, I think privilege. They, because of their status, get stuff the rest of us don't, thereby elevating their status. When I think of the poor, I think bummer, y'all. They, because of their status, go without, thereby lowering their status.

This is the perspective of a middle-of-the-roader, as far as wealth and privilege go. My children have food to eat and clothes to wear and a roof over their heads. We do not live in Beverly Hills, nor do we live in tenement housing. 

Jesus, the Servant King, preaches an upside-down kingdom: "So the last shall be first and the first last" (Matthew 20:16).  "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matthew 23:11). "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives" (John 14:27). 

What a great wrap-up of how Jesus operates: I don't do it the way you think I should. I have a different way, a better way. You're scared because of your circumstances? No, I won't take your circumstances away, but I'll give you peace in spite of your circumstances. 

Pilate and Jesus stand in a royal courtroom looking at one another. Jesus says: "My kingdom is from another place." Pilate says: "You are a king then!" (John 17:36-37).

Pilate sees nations and military and political might that can be manipulated in the right conditions. Jesus sees brokenness, heart condition, and sin that needs grace, healing, and forgiveness. 

They're looking at the same picture, only the picture Jesus is describing is upside-down, a flipped image of the one Pilate expects... and Pilate doesn't understand.

So back to James: "But the one who is rich should glory in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business."

How can anyone glory in THAT?

For the same reason Jesus offers: He says -- Here's your upside-down kingdom. Here's my gift to you: Rich and poor are only two polar opposites of an earthly kingdom. My kingdom encompasses both of those polarities. Focusing on wealth will -- like too much sun on a plant -- wither you. Similarly, focusing on poverty will do the same thing.

In other words: He holds your circumstances so you don't have to. Glory in that fact. 
He gives you your wealth. Glory in the One Who puts you in that position. 
He gives you your poverty. Glory in the One Who puts you in that position. 

Rich, poor, it doesn't matter, because material wealth and the lack of it are as meaningless as a plant's cycle of life, here one day, gone the next. God created both the plant and the sun that gives it light. 

So here's the deal: Stop focusing on the objects, because too much "object" will make you forget Who holds the object in His hands. The circumstances become your whole world, and then you wither beneath the pressure.

Hey. Hey. Jesus, He's got this under control. He's got you. Stop worrying.

Have you ever noticed that adding an schm to the front of any word strips it of power? It takes the gut-punch of the word's meaning and allows you to ridicule it, giving you, at least temporarily, the upper hand. Let's try it: Fear schmear. Scary schmary. 

Circumstances, Schmircumstances.

Instead of focusing and trusting in your circumstances, look at the one Who holds those circumstances, and trust Him instead.