A Crown of Thorns
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Revelation 4:9-11 NASB
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, " Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."
I imagine that each of us will fall down before our God at the end of time! Those elders, who were mighty, strong, powerful on the earth just took one quick look at the glory of God and recognized that all they had acquired, ruled over, owned, loved, was nothing--absolutely nothing. Worthless. Less than nothing. They threw the crowns before the throne! Surely they thought, “Oh, my God, how small is man.” And “how meaningless is all we placed value in.”
So often we get caught up in the day-to-day “emergencies” and to-do list items. We tear around, with a great sense of urgency--I must accomplish this task or that. People are counting on me. We race to this place, the cell phone never stops ringing, the gas tank is never full, we’re never still--constant motion--important business this thing called living. But aren’t we really fooling ourselves?
Aren’t we really saying to the world, “Look at me! I’m important. I’m busy. I’m never finished with all my very necessary tasks.” We really can’t help it, though. It seems that the more technology that has made available to us, the more complicated our lives become! I fought hard NOT to get a cell phone, but realized it did no good for the rest of the family to have one if I didn’t, too! We are breathless, just trying to live! And the world tells us that’s how it’s supposed to me. Now is what matters. You are what matters. Acquire a whole closet full of those crowns--heck--buy a house with 700 square foot garage in which to store the “extras!”
Notice I used “we!” I know of what I speak! Oh how we build a world around ourselves that insulates us from the truth! God is in heaven -- but he’s also in earth -- in all of it. And we just build walls around ourselves to keep Him out--because we just don’t have time to sit down, alone, in a quiet place, and figure out what a life focused on God would be like. We don’t want to cast our crowns -- we want to wear them -- they define us! They let the world know who we are and what we stand for.
We forget that Christ wore a crown of thorns. No other crown, no matter how shiny, how sparkly, how heavy could ever satisfy us! No other crown looks so beautiful as the one our Savior wore for us. Nothing we ever do, acquire, or possess will ever make us feel so loved and so valued as Jesus on that cross, adorned with nothing but a thorny crown.
I hope today you cast your crowns of this world at the foot of the cross. And take some time to think about what really matters in your life.
Mary
