Resources/Articles
The Flip Side
My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways.
Isaiah 55:8
When the world welcomed Jesus, the announcement of His birth set the stage for the difference He would make. When He spoke, it was “as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:29). In the series of messages He delivered throughout His life, and specifically in Matthew 5-7, Jesus spoke some jaw-dropping, head-scratching words. His teaching was the flip side of what most people would teach about life.
Meditate on these ironic proposals... To gain you must lose (Mark 8:35-37). To live you must die (Luke 9:23-24). “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4). The greatest among all men is a servant (Matthew 20:26-28). Be in the world, but not of the world (John 17:14-16). Suffering has a purpose (Matthew 5:10-11). The first will be last, and the last will be first (Matthew 19:30).
It is tempting to dismiss these scriptures as unusual and difficult to understand, and believe “That doesn’t apply to me.” Yet, there is wisdom and understanding within them. Guidance for how we are to live our lives lies at the foot of those passages. Our Jesus brought the power of salvation through His blood, and HIs WORDS have the power to heal, free, influence, open doors, and bring life. Each one enables us to live more like the Master Teacher. Unless we follow His way, there is no other way to the Father (John 14:6).
We may get to the point of thinking we have got it figured out. We are like children who think they know more than their parents about what is best. Our thought patterns and responses for navigating through life become deep-seated. When Jesus speaks, He interrupts our routines and calls us to a new and better way. If we look at what Christ says as strange and “out of touch,” serious investigation and meditation on His words reveals we are the ones “out of touch.” He offers the flip side - the better side.
No wonder God told us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Rather than relying on “instincts,” “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” to those ways (Matthew 11:15; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
