And every [athlete] that strives for the mastery is [disciplined] in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we [do it to obtain] an incorruptible [crown]. (1 Corinthians 9:25)
Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life... (James 1:12)
“...be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)
The twenty-four elders fell down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power…” (Revelation 4:10-11)
These verses all speak about the crown that we can receive from God. Now, as the 24 elders – who have the extremely exalted position of having seats stationed around God’s throne room – show us, by example, that they “cast their crowns before the throne” of God and tell him that he is “worthy… to receive glory and honor.” I seriously doubt that their exalted position, the casting of their crowns, and their statement immediately afterward about God being worthy, are unrelated in the least.
In fact, I had an experience that illustrated this for me quite accurately.
A few years ago, I began teaching in special education. As part of the temporary license I received, I had to complete my coursework. In the classes I completed during that time, I was fairly successful; I think I had a 3.9 GPA and passed my exit exam without any problems.
But I’m not here to brag about my grades – quite the opposite, actually.
You see, I received an invitation to join an honor society because my GPA was so high (top 15% of grad students, I believe was the criteria).
But I didn’t keep the notification letter.
On the contrary, I framed it and gave it to my dad for Christmas that year.
What I also gave my dad that year was a framed list of some of the things I loved about him while I was growing up. One of the first items on the list was that he inspired good study habits by “bribing me” for good grades. On this item, I also noted that his rewarding me for receiving good grades “has left a lasting impression” on my desire to achieve academically.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for what I’ve been able to accomplish in all the classes I’ve taken in my life. But when I gave my dad that framed honor society letter as a gift, in effect, what I was saying was that you had so much to do with this that I can’t possibly take credit for it.
This is what it means to, as the song “We Fall Down” puts it,
We fall down
We lay our crowns
at the feet of Jesus
We are basically saying that,
Jesus, you had so much to do with what we’ve accomplished that we have to give you the credit. We can’t take credit for it ourselves because we don’t have anything – our skills, knowledge, resources, etc. – that you haven’t already given to us.
