The Upside down Kingdom

This is such an intriguing topic to me. Mainly because it is totally opposite of what I want to do the majority of the time. I do not understand it, but for some reason the way of the Kingdom is to go low so you can go high. We obviously see this in the life of Jesus, especially in the Sermon on the Mount. During this message to the people Jesus did not demonstrate His power, instead He spoke about the foundations of His Kingdom. After He spoke the peoples response is seen in Matthew 7:28-29, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teachings, because he spoke as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the Law."

This blows me away. How can you be so amazed at someone who is telling you humble yourself and forgive other. Someone who tells you that it is not all about you. But because of the power and truth on His words the Holy Spirit convicted their hearts.

I also want to point out where this is seen in Isaiah. This starts in the song seen Isaiah 42:1-4 where Isaiah is talking about the servant of the Lord (often seen as Jesus):

"Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my spirit on Him
and He will bring Justice to the Nations.
He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.
In Faithfulness he will bring forth Justice;
He will not falter or be discouraged
till He establishes justice on the earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope."

This has messed me up as I have meditated on it a tiny bit. If you look at it the main description is a servant who is weak and lowly. It says He will not cry out or raise His voice in the streets. Also it says, "A bruised reed he will not break..." etc. Now I don't claim to know what most of this stuff means, but it blows me away that Isaiah says that this is the one who will bring justice. The one who is weak and lowly; who will not be the loudest among the people, but instead the quietest and meekest.

As I have been meditating on these passages I have been wanting to put them into practice more and more. Just today I had an opportunity where something was done to me and it was probably wrong. But I heard the Lord asking me how I was going to respond. It is so easy to respond in anger and just hord up bitterness toward the person, but in the Kingdom of God we are to respond in meekness and forgive them. I don't understand it, but this releases power both in our lives and the other persons.

I hope this encourages you as you seek to live a life worthy of the calling He has given you. Cya!