When Is Upside Down Right Side Up?

"When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus'" (Acts 17:6-7)

 Just when is "upside down" really "right side up"?  To use a well-worn cliche, beloved, it all depends upon whom you ask!  The world, for example, will tell you in a heartbeat that Christians, or even moral conservatives for that matter, are definitely "upside down."  Listen to the rhetoric that spews from the printed page and the airwaves.  All of that which they choose to say about us today means only one thing - in their minds we are "upside down" in our thinking and consequently in our politics.  We have been brainwashed by religion.

Did you know that the Apostle Paul and his missionary partner Silas were accused in just the same way by the irate citizens of ancient Thessalonica in Greece?  Dragged before the city bigwigs for causing too many people to accept the gospel of grace and to turn in faith to Jesus Christ, these servants of God were loudly accused of having "upset the world."  In other words, they had challenged and affected the safe and sanctimonious status quo of the Hellenistic Jews and the unbelieving Greeks.  Very simply, they accused Paul and Silas and their gospel message of being "upside down" and of having turned the whole Greek world topsy-turvy as a result.

The problem with such thinking, beloved, whether from the first century or the twenty-first, is that this world has missed the boat when it comes to just what is "upside down" and what is "right side up."  Paul in his preaching in the synagogue in Thessalonica had reasoned with his audience for three Sabbath days in a row and had proven irrefutably that Jesus of Nazareth was then, is now, and forever will be the promised Messiah.  Of the resolute Jews whom many thought none could convince Luke records that even among their number "some of them were persuaded."  They were not persuaded by enticing speech, riveting stories, or catchy phrases.  They were persuaded by the undeniable truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For those so persuaded, they turned to Christ for the simple reason that they could do nothing else.

That being the case, beloved, again the twenty-first century as well as the first, what every true child of God knows is that the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16).  So we conclude without fear of meaningful argument or contradiction that it is the world that is "upside down" and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is "right side up"!  Thus, in answer to the original question: "When is upside down right side up?" the answer clearly is whenever anyone turns from sin and in faith to Christ and receives the gospel of grace.  By the way, are you turning your world upside down by showing it how to be right side up?

Ron