You Can Wear a Divine Crown You may think you have gone through many hours of agony and torture in your life; but in all of your trials, you must learn a great secret—there always has to be a cross before there can be a crown. If you want a crown of life, you will have to first suffer the cross. You may go through a trial and think that you did not get anything out of it; but you should have learned that through your sufferings, you will have a crown. Jesus wore a crown of thorns, and every one of us has to wear that crown of thorns at one time or another. When you decide that you want to be like Jesus, you will have to face all kinds of agony and torture; but that thought has stopped a lot of people from going all the way with God. Remember that the agony of the Cross is short–lived, but hell is forever. One day, we will be at the throne of God; and we will behold Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father and hear the Father say, “Children, welcome home! You have been faithful in your journey on Earth, and I am proud of you!” Even in the case of our Savior, there could have been no crown without the Cross. He came to Earth, took on the fashion of a man and subjected Himself to all the weaknesses that we have to face…and then He subjected Himself to the Cross. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). Our blessed Lord could look beyond His life’s journey and the crushing calamities He had. He could look beyond the dark tragedy of the Cross and behold the shining crown and unshakeable throne waiting for Him. We too have to look beyond our troubles and know that a glad day will soon come. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life (Revelation 2:10). Jesus knew when He suffered the agonies of the Cross that His real kinship with man would come from the Cross and that His permanent crown would be one without the thorns that pierced His brow. Do you look at trials that way? One of the greatest things my wife, Angel, ever said to me was when we were going through a great trying time. I was laughing out loud when she said, “I don’t see anything funny about this; I think you just love trials.” Well, there was no need to cry because tears were not going to straighten anything out. We needed the power of the Cross and the hand of God. There is a price to pay to get your prayers through to Heaven, but don’t let that make you afraid to pray. Many times, things get worse before they get better.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 22:04:02 +0000