The Ultimate upgrade.

By John Stallings

I read a story about a man who was getting ready to board a flight when the flight attendant came to him with what she called “Good news & Bad news.” She explained that the flight was too full in the coach section so if he didn’t mind he would be upgraded to first class. Obviously the man was more than happy about this & proceeded to the first class section for his seat. As he was waiting for his complimentary drink to be served, he noticed that a man across from him was being very disruptive, & complaining about everything. As a matter of fact the man became so rude & abusive it almost made the trip unbearable to the others in first class.

As this man who wrote the story sat & pondered the situation, he asked himself why that man was so critical & impossible to please, when to him everything seemed perfect about the flight. The answer was obvious; the man making all the noise had paid full fare & he had a strong sense of entitlement, while the author had been given his seat free (at least the first class seat) & he felt nothing but gratitude.

You’re probably already making the spiritual connection here. As Christians we’ve been given the ultimate upgrade. Think about it. We’ve been redeemed by God’s mercy & grace. We’ve gone from the road to hell & destruction to the road to heaven by God’s sovereign love. We’ve gone from sin to righteousness, from being lost to being found, from being bound, to freedom. We were rescued by God from a horrible pit & our feet have been taken out of the miry clay & placed on the Rock Christ Jesus. It was a gift from God. Now that’s the Ultimate upgrade. Wouldn’t you agree?

Consequently we as Christians should be the happiest, the most appreciative, and the most loving people on the planet. We should be so glad for our free upgrade that we could be spotted from outer space, singing & dancing in the rain. However, too often this just isn’t the case. The elephant in the living room that few talk about is that as Christians, we sometimes have a hard time coming up with a modicum of gratitude & happiness in the marketplace of our daily lives. We’re so busy trying to get the pieces of our inner man together that we don’t have much to offer anyone else.

I heard about a minister who was working toward his degree who spent time among men who were in drug recovery programs. He was amazed at the high level of gentleness, compassion & helpfulness of the men. He said that the stereotype of persons in recovery as rough, ungrateful & rude was totally wrong. One day he mentioned to the men he was working with that he’d never before experienced such grace-filled attitudes in so many men. He never saw a trace of rudeness or lack of sensitivity in any of them.

One particular recovering addict replied, “Well Reverend, when you’ve taken the food out of your baby’s mouth, the lunch money out of your son’s pocket & the clothes off your wife’s back to pay for your addiction, & then they forgive you & accept you when you begin to turn your life around, you are so thankful.” Then he added, “Those who’ve been forgiven much love much.”

Let’s look at a dictionary definition of rudeness. ---Rude; Discourteous, impolite, without culture, rough, harsh, tempestuous, uncouth. If we’re candid we’ll have to admit that we see this on a daily basis on our streets, in the workplace & even in our homes.

Have you noticed that the most popular comedians nowadays are the incredibly rude ones? The ruder the better. They don’t need much talent; all they seem to need is a foul mouth & the willingness to be rude. Many people love it. One of the most popular movies of recent times is about a man who visits America & all he does is disrupt parties, go rudely & uninvited into homes & embarrass people & make himself obnoxious in general. If you want to stand out in our society, have a clean mouth & always be respectful & you’ll truly be a stand-out. Rudeness just seems to come naturally these days.

ONE THING IS FOR SURE, RUDENESS DOESN’T MESH WITH THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

In James 2:1-12, James tells how not to act toward people. He is telling us very clearly not to “be respecters of persons” that is not to pick & chose who we’ll be nice to. He said it’s sinful to bow & scrape to the well dressed & then treat the poor with less respect. James lays it on the line, for in verse eight he says we do well when we love our neighbor as ourselves but if we are rude & unloving to people we’re just as guilty before God as if we broke one of the Cardinal commandments like murder & adultery
James says; -“Don’t do it—don’t be rude” & he underscores it. It’s not a triviality. If you haven’t read that passage lately go back & reread it & ponder what James is saying to us. You’ll get a little shiver up your back as I did.

Common courtesy is really what we’re talking about. Did you ever notice that the first five letters of that word are COURT? Courtesy! That word originated with people who worked in a courtroom. They would have a special standard of speaking & acting while in the courtroom. Then their behavior began to spill over into their everyday lives. They were court workers & people started calling their actions –courteous. The reason they were courteous in the courtroom was very simple; they were in the presence of a king who was holding court. You & I as Christians are living our lives “In the presence of a king.—King Jesus.” I can remember being told as a boy to live my life to an audience of one---God. I’d like to say I’ve always done it but I can’t. But for the times I’ve missed it I grieve.

Jesus was a very courteous man. In John 2, when He was attending a wedding (isn’t it interesting that Jesus was such a social being?) the wine ran out. Jesus didn’t have to do it but because He didn’t want to be rude & heartless, he turned water into wine so the party could continue. Did you notice that when the ruler of the feast tasted the wine he didn’t even give Jesus credit for it, he gave the Bridegroom the credit. Jesus didn’t let it the man’s rudeness bother Him because He was just gracious like that.

I am shocked when I read how rude Jesus’ disciples were at times. In John 9, there’s the story of the blind man Jesus passed by. The disciples blurted out— “Jesus, who sinned in this instance, the man or his parents?” Pardon my expression here but, “heavens–to-Betsy”-- did the disciples think the man was deaf too? How did they think their statement would make that man feel? Well he wasn’t deaf, he was blind. But notice how Jesus saved the occasion by saying so gently, “neither the man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be manifest in him.” Then Jesus made a mud-ball & told the man to go wash it off & he was healed of his blindness.


I love the story about Jesus after He had risen from the dead & made an appearance to His disciples. He could have gone on a mission to guilt His disciples for running out on Him like they did at His crucifixion. He could have preached them a red-hot sermon about sticking with your friends or how disappointed He was with them for being afraid after all the years He’d spent with them. But what did He do? He had a nice meal waiting for them of fish & bread & invites them to “come and dine.” Then they just sit around & have a nice time of fellowship. There is no guile in Him & no desire to get even with them for deserting Him.

The Golden Rule Jesus gave was “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The first rudiment of a Christian life is to treat others as we’d like to be treated. All I have to do to obey that command of Christ is know how I like to be treated. Do I like to receive cards from people on special days? Well I should send people cards on their special days. Do I like to be treated with respect? Then I will treat others with respect. James tells us if we don’t fulfill that “royal law” of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, we are is so doing “breaking all of the other commandments.”

Let’s go back to our UPGRADE. I’ve been accused of writing some long sentences as a matter of fact maybe too long to be grammatically correct. But the Apostle Paul got carried away describing our Ultimate Update & wrote the longest sentences in the Bible. I’m going to join Paul in the 4th verse of the first chapter of Ephesians. Read carefully for here are the details of your upgrade;

According as he hath chosen is in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy & without blame before him in love, Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom & prudence, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensations of the fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven & which are in earth; even in him, in whom ye also have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will; that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted after we heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, & love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom & revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling & what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, & set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities & power & might & dominion & every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come: and hath out all things under his feet & gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

How should we then live & how should our behavior be influenced when we realize how royally we’ve been treated by the Lord & what we have in Christ both now & in eternity?

What an UPGRADE!!

John