Upside Down

I find it curious how we as Christians can get so caught up in and sucked into believing the definition of success and importance that the world gives. In my line of work, we get many different types of people through the door. Some obviously have money...or a good line of credit...based on the cars they drive or the watches and jewelry they wear or the handbag they carry. Others don't seem to have much at all and stress the importance of getting a good bargain because they don't have much to spend. Then there are the ones who you just don't know about. By the way they are dressed and the handbag they carry, you'd probably guess they fall into the second category, but in reality they are very wealthy.
The reason I am even pondering this is that I am finding myself more and more uncomfortable with the amount of attention that Christian people place on the watch or the bag or the affiliation with a certain team or school or the neighborhood they live in. Didn't the writer of the book of James talk about showing favoritism? Don't we also know that Jesus said "the first will be last"? What do our children learn when we tell them that what is really important in life is character and godliness and virtue, but we fall all over ourselves trying to get close to and associate with those who seem to be successful and powerful? What would it look like if we fell all over ourselves to get to that person who is driving the beat up car and wears clothes from the last decade and has never had a real hair style.
Maybe it's my affinity for the underdog or my disgust of arrogance, but I just can't take it anymore. I long for the day when we as believers really get the fact that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. All of us came to Christ in the same condition; naked, poor and blind.
I will never forget a trip that I took to Old Salem one time when the tour guide explained the headstones at the cemetery. All of them were exactly the same and the guide told us that the Moravians believed that all men were created equal and that even in death, no one deserved more than another. What's amazing about this is that even during the period before the civil war, slaves were buried side by side of their masters...with the same headstone. Paul says in the scripture that there is neither slave nor free, male nor female; Jew nor Gentile, but all men are created equal in Christ. (my translation)
I wish for just one day, we could have God's eyes and see each human being the way he sees them. I think we would be extremely surprised at how differently we would respond to those who garner our attention now. I think we would fall all over ourselves in the presence of the most unassuming soul that walks through our door.
God, give us your eyes and help us to respond the way you would...and forgive us for how quickly we forget that your kingdom is an upside-down kingdom where you choose to use the base things of the world to humble the great.