 Inversion reverses the order of strictly positive elements

Here strictly positive means positive and invertible. Set $k=a^{-1/2}b{a}^{-1/2}\ge 1$ using congruence preserves positivity in a C-star algebra. The continuous functional calculus gives $k^{-1}\le 1$, since $1-t^{-1}\ge 0$ for $t\ge 1$. Then $a^{-1}-b^{-1}=a^{-1/2}(1-k^{-1})a^{-1/2}\ge 0$. The proof works without commutativity. If $1\le a$, functional calculus also gives $a^{-1}\le 1$.