DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
UPSIDE DOWN D. | Day 31 of 40 (LENT)

Yep. Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is an upside down house.

On purpose.

Apparently, there are several on-purpose, upside-down buildings all over the world: South Korea, Japan, Spain, Poland. Who knew?

The interior design student who posted the house picture above reported that its builder was making an artistic statement about the current state of the world, among other things. She said that workers had to take breaks every three hours because they became disoriented and confused, and some tourists got dizzy or felt seasick when in the house. Go figure.

Guess being upside down takes some getting used to.

We’re exploring that concept in our current series, “Upside Down Discipleship” or “Upside Down D!” (for short) during Lent. I’ve been preaching each Sunday about the seemingly bizarre way of doing things we’re called to when we follow Christ. The series will culminate on Easter with “3 Mary’s, a 1-woman play”, a revised, shorter version of my play “The Cross: Mary, Mary & Mary”, that some of you may have seen in the past.

I can only imagine what Jesus’ disciples must’ve been thinking when He said things like, “Deny yourself and follow me”.

Why would anyone, in their right mind, want to deny him/herself? For what?! This could be a totally foreign concept to our “Me/My/I” generation.

We’re more likely to say, “What do you mean, ‘Deny myself’? I thought I was supposed to ‘Get mine!'”

Upside down.
Let’s look at that passage.

Day 31:
Read below or click here: MATTHEW 16:24-27

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

Let me tell you. By worldly standards, this is NOT the way to get followers in 2012.
Not in politics.
Not in business.
Not in Hollywood.

We’re designing a website for our new bible fellowship. If we posted a message on the homepage which said, “If you roll with us, you might die”, would you come? Probably not. But that’s what Jesus said to his disciples.

What’s fascinating is that just before the verses quoted above, Jesus tells his disciples that He will suffer horribly and die, then rise again. So before He tells them that they will lose their lives following him, He explains that he’s definitely going to lose His life. What a sales pitch!

But He breaks it down like this:
What can this world offer in exchange for our soul?

Is there anything, anything, that we can think of on this side of heaven that compares to what we will experience in eternity with Him?

Everything, yes, everything that we have on this earth is temporary: our beautiful homes, clothes, cars, jewelry, possessions, bank accounts, retirement funds, sex, food, vacations… it all goes bye-bye when we die. Steve could not take his iPod/iPad designs or billions of dollars with him last year.

This world, this side, is not the end of the story. And Jesus says each person will be rewarded according to what we have done. We will all be held accountable for our actions.

I understand this is not a popular message. I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s WED parade. I actually think it’s quite encouraging. We don’t have to second guess what’s expected of us, if we decide to follow Jesus. He tells us straight up.

And here’s the best part:
When we “lose” our lives for His sake, our lives are actually “found”. We are rescued from death. We are saved from penalty. That’s upside down for sure!

How are we doing with our upside down discipleship?
Have we had incidents of ‘denial of self’ recently? Especially during this fast?
Anybody had to take up a cross or two or three while following Jesus?

Take courage.
He who promises reward is faithful. Nothing we have given up goes unnoticed.
Even as we travel the road of the cross, let’s remember it leads to a glorious resurrection.

That’s Upside Down D!

All this upside down talk has me thinking of pineapple upside-down cake: pineapples, cherries, brown sugar. Anybody else hungry?

Excuse me, breakfast calls.
Naima

RESPOND or SUBSCRIBE to BLOG below.
Facebook, Twitter

DAILY PRAYER (LENT):
1) Confession & Repentance – Let’s confess our wrongs and ask forgiveness
2) Complete transparency – Let our guard down and talk to God about our lives.
3) Listen – Let’s quiet and listen to God’s Spirit re: the scriptures, etc.
4) Intercession for others – Let’s pray for our family, friends, coworkers, church, etc.