How embarrassing!

Apr 17, 2026

Rejoicing in Dishonor (Part 1)

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So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. And every day both in the temple courts and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the Christ.

Acts 5:41-42 (NET)

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Years ago I had a mentor teach me about the unique nature of God’s realm.

He called it “the Upside-down Kingdom.”

The idea is that the things God thinks are valuable are often shameful to us, and some of what we think is valuable is actually worthless to God.

This verse highlights that truth.

Here we see the Disciples, the very leaders of this emerging church, rejoicing because they suffered and were dishonored for the sake of Christ.

That’s upside-down thinking.

Here’s the tough part for me:

Would I be rejoicing like they did?

In some sense, the answer doesn’t matter because God, in His grace, has not put me in that situation.

(He probably knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it as well as they did.)

But in another sense, it’s important for me to challenge my own thinking about what I value and how I serve the Father.

Since I don’t believe I would be rejoicing like them, why not? And what can I do to change that?

I don’t have an answer for you right now.

The exercise of asking the challenging questions yourself -- and discussing them with the Holy Spirit -- is the valuable part of this little newsletter.

I can say that I’ll be thinking about it and seeing if I can make a small change today to make myself a better servant.

I’m confident God will show me at least one thing I can be doing better.

He’s good like that.

— Ricky Ketchum

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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