Living Upside Down

We’ve been on a journey together.

We named Empire — the invisible system most of us have been running on without even knowing it. We sat with Jesus’ four-word identity statement: not so with you. We looked at the inverse pyramid and what it means to push people above you instead of pulling people below you. We talked about the battle for the voice that gets the final word in your life.

Now I want to bring it all the way home.

Because if this series has been interesting but hasn’t changed anything about your Tuesday — then we haven’t finished the job. The Kingdom of God is not a theological category. It is a way of life. So let me get specific.

At Work

Use your position — whatever it is — to develop the people around you instead of protecting your own lane. Celebrate a coworker's win instead of feeling threatened by it. Be excellent not to be noticed but because your work is an act of worship. Empire asks, what does this do for me? Kingdom asks, what does this do for them?

At Home

Be fully present with the people who have your last name instead of giving them the leftover version of yourself. I know this one personally. I had to learn — the hard way — that my family doesn't need my ministry. They need me. The inverse pyramid starts in your own house.

At Church

Show up to give, not just to get. Serve in a role nobody sees and not need anyone to notice. Welcome the person who walks in alone — the one who looks like they don't belong, the one Empire would walk right past. Jesus always stopped for that person. So should we.

With Friends

Be the person who asks good questions and actually listens to the answers. Who shows up when there's nothing in it for you. Who tells the truth with love even when it's uncomfortable.

With Money

The most countercultural move you can make in the American economy. Empire says accumulate, protect, upgrade. Kingdom says hold it loosely, give generously, trust that God is a better provider than your savings account.

None of this is easy. Learning to love the upside down is a lifelong process.

There are mornings I wake up and Empire’s voice is the first one talking. There are days I default back to performing instead of resting in love. There are moments I catch myself measuring my worth by what I’ve produced instead of who I belong to.

But here’s what I’ve found — and this is the thing I want to leave you with.

Every time I choose the Kingdom way — even when it’s hard, even when it costs me something, even when nobody sees it — there is a peace on the inside that Empire has never once been able to offer me. A settledness. A sense that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly what I was made for.

That peace is not the absence of difficulty. It is the presence of God in the middle of it.

You are loved. Fully. Without condition. Without performance.

Now go live like it.

Pick one area — work, home, church, friendships, money — and make one Kingdom move this week. One intentional, upside down choice. Then pay attention to what happens on the inside of you when you do.

If this series has meant something to you — please share it. Not for me. But because someone in your world is exhausted from climbing a pyramid that will never love them back. Send them the whole series. Start with the intro. It might just change everything.

— Corey

Thanks for going on this journey. Learning to love the upside down is a lifelong road — and it’s better when we walk it together.

Living Upside Down

Pass it on.

Reach out to me directly.

Learning to Love the Upside Down