On the up escalator
You’re on the up escalator
But you’re living in an upside down worldUp Escalator by Love and Money
From the album Strange Kind of Love
Love and Money are, to my mind, one of the most underrated and neglected bands of the late 80s and early 90s.
A rock/soul/funk band formed in 1985 in Glasgow, Scotland … in their initial nine years together they recorded four moderately successful albums … and had six chart hits in the United Kingdom. (Wikipedia)
I have been a fan of their music ever since I first heard the superb single Halleluiah Man on my car radio sometime in 1988 – I couldn’t get myself out of the car till the song finished, and then couldn’t get it out of my head.
I have two of the four albums – Strange Kind of Love (1988) and Dogs in Traffic (1991) – and listening to the former recently I was struck for the first time (in nearly 30 years!) by the lines quoted earlier:
On the up escalator
You’re on the up escalator
But you’re living in an upside down world
The songs protagonist is climbing their way to worldly “success”, crushing anyone who steps in their way. But their climb to success is actually a descent to the depths, because they’ve got their priorities all wrong – they’re “living in an upside down world”.
What struck me was the fact that we are all of us living in an upside down world. Because ultimately this world is God’s kingdom, an upside-down kingdom, a topsy-turvy kingdom, in which:
- the first are last and the last are first;
- the one who rules is like the one who serves;
- those who seem to be weaker are indispensable;
- those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted;
- the greatest is a little child
Hence, in order to go up in this upside down world, we need to go down in the eyes of the world. To humble ourselves as Jesus did. Seeking not to become Something or Someone, but rather seeking to serve, as one of the least and the last.
Willing to walk the way of littleness, to greatness in God’s kingdom.
Because we’re living in an upside down world.
Do you want to go up in the world? Click To Tweet We're living in an upside down world. Click To TweetI explore this idea further in a chapter from my book, which you can read here.
For a Biblical basis for the above, see Mark 9:35, Luke 22:26, 1 Corinthians 12:22, Matthew 23:12, Matthew 18:4, Philippians 2:5–8.
I apologise James Grant, singer-songwriter of Love and Money, if I have misused his lyrics for this post – I can only say that this is what came to me as I listened to them for the umpteenth time.