Friday!

Proverbs!

A ruler with no understanding will oppress his people, 

but one who hates corruption will have a long life.

Proverbs 28:16 NLT

So we have a ruler, someone with power, who doesn't understand and so tolerates, uses, promotes corruption, and oppresses those with less power. 

As we look around the world we can see people in power like this, and at times it seems in our own country. 

But proverbs is about getting to the heart and so I'm wondering where I have power, in the relationships where I have some authority, how well do I understand those affected by my decisions?

Where do I move things in my favour?

Sometimes it's really tricky to even see where we have power because we're so used to the "way it is".

When Jesus turned up he'd already left most of his power behind. At Christmas he was so small he had to be carried around, fed by his parents, held. He grew up a refugee, a tradesman, from a poor place in a country dominated by another Empire. 

He worked in an upside-down way. 

And he knew rejection, abuse, loss, joy, heartbreak and blessing, limitation and frailties.

He understood what it is to be human. 

This proverb written hundreds of years before Jesus invites us into the upside-down way of the kingdom in how we live today. 

How we see and love others. 

#proverbs

#wisdom

#somethingtochewon

#upsidedownkingdom