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I am a fiscally and socially conservative Christian who gets frustrated with the world, and my place in it, and wants to talk about it.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Laying Our Crowns at the Feet of Jesus

We fall down,
We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.
The greatnessness of his mercy and love,
At the feet of Jesus.
We cry Holy, Holy, Holy.
We cry Holy, Holy, Holy,
We cry Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lamb.


The Tower of London holds, in an enormous vault, the treasures of the empire. Among those treasures are the crowns of all the English and Scottish monarchs since the beginning of time. A crown is heavy and gold, usually jeweled, and represents so much. It represents authority, power, influence, wealth, land, possessions, and position. It represents everything the king has and everything the king is.

In the Book of Revelation, we learn about the elders throwing down their crowns at Jesus' feet. They are throwing down everything they have, and everything they are.

Have you given Jesus everything you have? Everything you are?

Christians know that God says we are to bring our problems and sins to Him. "Cast your cares on him for he cares for you." All our sins. All our griefs. All our guilt. It's all washed away by the redeeming blood of the Savior.

As for our gifts, or talents, we often tend to focus primarily on the gifts of the Spirit in Corinthians. Pastors, prophets, teachers, service. We hear the sermons or read the books and plug ourselves in to whichever gift seems to be most evidenced in our lives. If we're doing what God says, we then give those gifts to Christ by serving the body of Christ – the church.

But He wants more. He wants everything you have. You have money. He wants it. You have land? He wants it. You have power? Prestige? Influence? He wants it all. And He wants more.

Do you have talents that you're hoarding, or discounting as unimportant? How dare you take the thing He's given you and hidden it away? Who are you to decide whether your gift is useful to God?

Do you love to entertain? He wants that. Do you throw awesome Superbowl parties? He wants that. Can you cook? Scrapbook? Clean houses? Do calligraphy? Know CPR? Do you love to be a mother? Do you love to be a father? Can you groom your dog well? Can you make furniture? Can you polish furniture? Can you bowl? Play volleyball? Play chess? Do you love extreme sports?

Are you beautiful? Are you physically beautiful by our culture's standards? Are you using that in His service? Are you drop-dead handsome? He wants that. Were you kind of so-so and had a little work done and now you're more attractive? He wants that.

Are you articulate? Are you intelligent? Intellectually curious? Do you love to study? Do you love to write? Love to read? Love to spell? Do you take beautiful photographs? Do you sew, tailor, or create beautiful needlework? Did you dress yourself today? Did you dress someone else today? Do you like to call people on the phone just to say Hello?

Never forget that everything you are, everything you have, everything you love, everything you do, and everything you do well – all those things are our crowns. And our crown is from God, it belongs to God, and it should be given back to God. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Every good and perfect gift is from Him.

Think about that when you sing "We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus." What are you really laying at His feet? Everything you have. And everything you are.