The Opposite Principle

Living opposite of this world’s influences his hard since we LIVE IN THIS WORLD. That is like saying take a bath but don’t get wet. Or, fly to Africa but don’t get in the air.  You get the idea. Only through Jesus Christ, will we even have the desire to live opposite of this depraved, lust-seeking, pleasure promoting world we temporarily call Earth. Here are some ways to live the opposite gospel. I know you have more examples…I’d love for you to share at the end.

1) Be a fool. That is very much against our worldly nature. 1 Corinthians 3:18, “If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age [world], you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise.” 

2) Live opposite of gain. Leave it all. Matthew, a tax collector, lived like every other tax collector. Cheating a little, or a lot, for gain is how they got their reputation. They did not get that reputation for nothing. Matthew was pricked in the heart and left his gain to follow Jesus.

3) Speeding. Do you say, “Go with the flow of traffic.”; “Slow cars are a hazard.” I’ve heard, “Would you jump off a cliff if everyone did it, too?” Live opposite of what everyone else seems to be doing. Just because everyone is doing it, does not make it right.

4) Mark 8:34 “want to be a disciple, deny self “

8:35 “want to save your life, loose it”

9:35 “want to be first, be last”

10:44 “want to be great, be a servant; want to be first, be a slave to all”

5) Live opposite of worldly freedoms: Be a slave to righteousness, not free in the world’s debauchery. 2 Peter 2:2,19 “Many will follow their depraved conduct and bring the way of truth into disrepute. …. For people are slaves to whatever masters them.”

6) Live opposite of what nations did in Old Testament. They turned away from the true God to worship idols.

7) No revenge! That is hard to do. We want to take matters into our own hands. “It is Mine to avenge”, says the Lord, Detu 32:35, Rom 12:19, Heb 10:30. “The Lord will fight for your, you need only be still,” Ex 14:14.

8) Don’t throw stones like you want, speak truth. To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you,” John 8:11.

Most of these do not come naturally! We have to practice them intentionally.

So, are we being fake? Not really. Have you heard the phrase, “Fake it till you make it”? We are acting as if the Spiritual realm means more to us than the worldly place we have to live in.I looked up the phrase on Google. It basically said to intentionally act like you should until the real feelings are produced and you act that way automatically. One site said, “Successful people have a strong belief in themselves that allows then to persist in the face of failure and to keep trying, no matter their level of fear. They have an internal drive that tells them they can succeed.” Let me phrase it Spiritually: “Saved people believe they are who God says they are and they press on to the goal even though they continue to be a sinner. Even in fear, the Holy Spirit drives them to do good works.”

 The Bible says to test everything and discern (Romans 12:2; 1 John 4:1, Phil 1:10) It does not tell us to fly by the seat of our pants, act immediately on feelings and impulses. When we discern and test this world’s standards and philosophies, we will be lead to act the opposite of how we feel most times. We will be led to act spiritually. I think our first response is feeling-based, but our second response is Jesus-based. Satan uses our feelings to trick us into acting badly.

Let’s practice so our first response is Jesus-based and automatic.