By Diana Kim

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” 
-Matthew 20:16

Neoliberal capitalism has warped our sense of self, to the point where we are cogs in the greater system, forced to move in the pattern that has been determined for us; ultimately, productivity is constantly demanded and any leisure or rest is considered a waste of time. The more you move, the more you grind. The more you grind, the more you produce. The more you produce, the more acceptable you are to society. We are groomed to always strive to be the best, no matter what the cost or the means.

This can come at the expense of others or even ourselves. This lifestyle is not only exhausting: it is not the life we are meant to live. Yes, we are meant to be stewards of our time and energy, to do the best we can with what we are given, but that doesn’t mean that we are to be worked so hard that we no longer know ourselves apart from the work we do or produce. What the world demands of us is not what God demands of us.

It is easy to get sucked into the rhythm and ways of the world; if this is what we grew up with and this is all that surrounds us, it would seem near impossible to escape it. Does that mean we are stuck in this neoliberal capitalist system forever?

When I look out into the world, I see so much heartache and devastation. Perhaps I have become so jaded that it is difficult for me to keep up my hope. As a follower of Jesus, I know that I have been promised this eternal hope, but the wailing of the world rings so loud that I am distracted from the rejoicing of God’s triumphant truth.

If there is even an ounce of hope, it is in the upside-down kingdom that Jesus preached and lived, an upside-down kingdom that doesn’t follow the rules and regulations of the world but holds to the rules of the Kingdom of God. I hear the wailing of the world, and while my heart breaks for the world, I am reminded that this is not what we were made for. We are not made for the neoliberal capitalist empire; we are made for the gracious and triumphant Kingdom of God.

We perpetually live in grief and we are unsure of when this grief will end — a grief that is baked into the system we cannot escape. But we have hope in the risen Lord, whose peace turns our mourning into dancing, our sadness into gladness; we have hope in the risen Lord, whose peace turns a cross of shame and humiliation into a triumphant throne; we have hope in the risen Lord, who turns our grief into joy.

Diana Kim is a PhD student at Fuller Theological Seminary and is majoring in Christian Ethics. Her current research area of interest is Asian American feminist ethics. She is committed to teaching and equipping the next generation to be passionate for Jesus and to live out His passion and care for the world.