Upside Down

Goodness, I'm slacking! I went almost a month without writing to you all. I know you were waiting for more content...probably not, but I'll tell myself that! All joking aside, I've missed writing these reflections and encouragements. They help me as much or more than anyone else.

Where to start? My goal with this blog is to write encouraging words and to provide Biblical insight/principles to think about. So much is on my mind, but probably more than anything is the shear upside-downness of our world right now. Yeah, I just made that word up. Now, if you've read previous posts or know me personally, you know I like to sing. When I was in high school I sang "special music" at our church on occasion. A song I sang once was from a band named Truth, the song title "Living Life Upside Down." The premise behind the song is very much like what we are living still today. Verse 1 is about a man who decides to leave his family, because obviously the grass is greener. Verse 2 questions the sense that it makes that we are so interested in saving material things and the planet we live on, but not human lives, i.e. unborn babies. With those themes in mind the chorus rings out:

What if we fall into the bottom of a well thinking we've risen to the top of a mountain?

What if we're knocking at the gates of Hell, thinking we're Heaven bound?

What if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves when we should have been thinking of each other?

What if we reach up and touch the ground to find we're living life upside down?

For the full effect, here is a link to the audio via Youtube of the band performance - not me!

So, what if that does happen? What if we think we are on track only to find out we're not? What if all of the relativism that's been gaining traction in our culture, actually tricks us into thinking we are wrong to follow Christ? Or even worse, if we are lukewarm and insert some of the watered down theology and sideways culture into our lives. To me, this is the scariest thing of all. If you want to explore this further, Chuck Colson is the man with the details. He has since been promoted to Heaven, but his insights are spot on. His book How Now Shall We Live will walk you through all the history of when and how we got on this slippery slope.

In training up a teenager, I am especially sensitive to this subject. How do I teach her to love others, but be ready and willing to make a Godly decision in the ethical gray area. How do I make sure that she understands that murder is murder even if you try to gloss it over as a choice. How do I help her love a person who is gender confused, but not accept that he can be a she if they want? I never in a million years thought I would have to double down to make sure that she understood that pedophilia was not normal, but here we are! For real, our pastor just shared a few weeks ago that his prediction is that the next front we have to be prepared to stand up against is the culture trying to normalize pedophilia. In the weeks following that sermon, this ideas started popping up on social media, so I did a Google search to see what is floating around out there. Some are calling it age fluidity. Unbelievable! No, it is not okay for a 62 year old man to "identify" as an 8 year old girl so he can "have a relationship" with an 8 year old boy. Now, some people are going to balk at that and say that Snopes already proved that one of the memes going around is false, but guess what - some form of this conversation has been happening since at least 2017! If not coupling gender identity with age fluidity, certainly age fluidity. All movements start with a conversation, and as that conversation grows so does the movement, then before long there is a following and after that there is a cultural shift and mandate for tolerance.

We have to be rooted in Scripture and know what is true and what is false. What is of God and what is trickery by the enemy to make us think it is of God. The only way - really THE ONLY WAY to spot falsehood is to know the truth! The only way we will know the truth is by reading our Bible, praying fervently, worshiping the Lord and gathering with others even virtually to make sure we are connected to God's heart and people. All of those things will bring us closer in relationship with the Holy Trinity.

Many of us feel like we are in a war right now for our patriotic freedom, but let's peel the onion back one more layer. Truth is often being held hostage these days. We are confused and dismayed by all of the "opinions" out there. Many of us are crediting opinion as truth. Where do we draw the line? Where do we sort truth from fiction, opinion from fact? It seems very fuzzy right now using human logic, but one thing remains: God's word is truth (John 17:17). We can bank on that. We can also trust that Holy Spirit will guide us and help us to discern truth from fiction if we allow Him to.

I just had this conversation with my daughter recently regarding red flags - warnings to us that something isn't quite right. We were discussing social media and figuring out if what was being presented was "real" or not. She was of the opinion that she would have red flags alert her if it wasn't. I asked how she thought she would get those red flags, and she said she just would. I wish it was that easy. I would like to think that her dad and I have walked with her in her spiritual journey enough that truly she does have that kind of discernment at such a tender age, but y'all, there are not too many of us adults with that much discernment much less a teenager. We've got to get into the Word. We've got to know the truth, so we can be ready to defend our faith, our family, and our future, and also to love others enough that we don't want them buying into lies.

Okay, I'm preachin' now. Sorry about that.

Bottom line: let's get to work on really, truly knowing the truth so we will be ready when some crazy idea bubbles its way to the top and becomes mainstream. Let's spend a lot more time in our Bibles and helpful books, articles, and media that points to Jesus instead of all of the opinion pieces on social media, TV, and radio. The commentary needs to be replaced with what we know to be true. Stand firm, friends! Call a spade a spade. Saturate your mind with whatever is true (Philippians 4:8).

I'm praying for you! We can stand together and fight the good fight (1 Timothy 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7).

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