If you’ve ever watched Stranger Things, you know about the Upside Down—an eerie, distorted version of the real world. Everything looks almost familiar, but it’s twisted, dark, and wrong. It’s a place where truth is inverted and life is threatened instead of cherished.
Sometimes the world’s view of disability feels a lot like that.
In God’s good design, every person is created with purpose, dignity, and breathtaking worth. But the world often turns that truth upside down, seeing disability through a lens of limitation instead of value, burden instead of blessing, “less than” instead of uniquely created.
It’s the Upside Down version of God’s reality.
But here’s the hope—God invites us to flip the script.
Where the world sees weakness, God sees strength.
Where the world sees inconvenience, God sees immeasurable worth.
Where the world sees brokenness, God sees beloved image-bearers who reflect His glory in remarkable ways.
Over and over, Scripture shows God working through those the world overlooks. He chooses the unexpected, the underestimated, and the misunderstood—not out of pity, but because He delights in them, has purpose for them, and reveals His heart through them.
God’s Kingdom has never followed the world’s script. In His view, disability is not a detour from purpose; it’s a canvas where His glory shines in ways no one else can fully understand.
When Jesus stepped into the world, He didn’t just heal bodies—He healed perspectives. He challenged the Upside Down way people viewed worth and capability. He honored those society pushed to the margins. He called them blessed, gifted, vital, and seen.
Today, He calls us to do the same.
To see people with disabilities not through the world’s distorted lens, but through God’s right-side-up truth:
In God’s Kingdom, disability is not something to be fixed before someone can belong. It’s part of the beautiful diversity through which His goodness is displayed.
Jesus, help us reject the Upside Down way the world sees disability. Flip our perspective. Align our hearts with Yours. Let us see each person—especially those the world overlooks—the way You do: full of purpose, full of dignity, and full of Your glory. Give us eyes to recognize the beauty You have placed in every life. Amen.
