Pricetags
I once heard of a different kind of crime. These guys broke into an apartment store after all the employees had gone home. They didn’t steal anything though. They just spent all night switching the price tags around. The next morning, the manager and employees came in but they didn’t notice anything was wrong until the first customers arrived wanting to buy $20 TVs and $12 beds. For some reason, no one wanted to buy the $800 action figures or the $1200 candles. The criminals made it so that normally high value items were labeled at a much lower price, and low priced items were now marked at a very high value. I don’t recommend crime in any way but that is kind of funny. I imagine it was an interesting morning in the store on the day that someone switched the price tags.
In a similar way, this is what Jesus does when He comes into your life. Maybe you have just been hanging out, cruising along in life thinking you have it all figured out, and all of a sudden you become challenged by what Jesus had to say about life. Maybe you started going to church and your view on life is being challenged. All of a sudden you find God getting in your stuff – up close and personal. Jesus begins to challenge your thoughts, beliefs, and values. And He begins to change some of the price tags. You have always thought certain things to be so important and significant, and now Jesus comes along and turns it over on you. He reveals that some things you thought were important aren’t really important at all. And things you thought were insignificant now seem to be very important.
And as you get closer to Jesus, it is not uncommon to think that you have just had life upside down. What if you had it all wrong? What if your values were all mixed up?
If you have ever had thoughts like this, welcome to the Upside Down kingdom of God. The Upside Down Kingdom is a kingdom that Jesus came to establish when he entered into this world. It is a kingdom where Jesus calls us to embrace a new way of life and a new way of thinking. He switches the price tags on us and calls us to be open to a new way of life as we seek to walk in his kingdom.
One of the main topics Jesus spoke of was the kingdom of God. He spoke of the kingdom more than 121 times. Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world meaning it was not a physical kingdom. The kingdom of God is defined as the rule and reign of God expressed through His Son Jesus Christ. Wherever you have a kingdom, there is a king. The kingdom of God is wherever Jesus reigns – wherever He is allowed to reign in our midst. His kingdom is marked in the hearts of men and women. His kingdom is revealed whenever men and women submit their lives to Him. His kingdom shows up when we allow Him to be the Lord over our lives. That is where you will find the kingdom of God – as He rules in our hearts.
Jesus said to his followers, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He was saying, I want to invite you to submit your life to my rule. Bring your life under the authority of God. And as they submitted to His kingdom, He promised to deliver them from their bondage to sin and to Satan. He was going to give them forgiveness and eternal life and call them to embrace a new way of life with Jesus Christ as their God and king. It is a great offer, but we must repent and turn from our own kingdom first if we are truly going to embrace the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. So, will you let Him switch the price tags in your life? And that’s the Word.
