What a Joy To Lay Down My Crown
8) And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9) And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10) the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11) “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Revelation 4:8-11
C, C, and H,
It’s the middle of a work day and as the weekend approaches I find myself with one whole hour open on my calendar…which never seems to happen these days. In this moment of limited interruptions, my mind drifted to the passage above found in Revelation 4. In it, we get a beautiful glimpse of heaven and a picture of God’s throne. Surrounding it are twenty-four other thrones, taken by twenty-four elders. While these men are nameless in Revelation, the text gives us clues that would lead me to believe they are representatives of God’s Church. Regardless of names and who they are specifically, it’s what they are doing that really matters. We read that a song, sung by “four living creatures” resounds over and over again throughout heaven proclaiming “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come!” This song never ceases…it goes on day and night! And these living creatures proclaim their song, we see the twenty-four elders bowing before the throne of God, casting their crowns at His feet proclaiming “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” What an incredible sight and sound this must be resounding throughout heaven, perpetually and eternally proclaiming the greatness, goodness, faithfulness and wonderfulness our God. Beautiful.
As I sit here and ponder these things, I’m humbled and overwhelmed by the sovereignty and purpose of God. “…and by your will they existed and were created.” Romans 11:36 says “For from him, and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory, forever.” What a beautiful reminder that we are the farthest thing from an accident, a mistake or without a purpose. I don’t know about you, but I, more often than I’d like to admit, struggle with feelings of inadequacy and meaning. I relentlessly second guess myself, am my own worst critic and allow my negative thoughts to drown out anything even remotely positive about myself.
Oh but God! Revelation 4 reminds me that no matter what happens during our lives on earth, we have an infinitely better place to go to and that while we are here, we can be assured that our lives have great purpose, meaning and matter greatly to God. By his will you were created and exist! He chose to create you, and he designed you uniquely in this world to do uniquely wonderful things…not for yourself but for his glory. Your purpose is to bring glory to God…that’s why you are here, that’s why I am here and I don’t want us to miss that for even a second. Think about this…really think about it…it pleased God so much that he created you and put breathe in your lungs today…he decided that YOU existing today, in whatever capacity you are reading this, would bring him glory…and so you are here. All I can say, and I pray the same for you, is “Wow - thank you, God. Help me make the most of the time you’ve chosen for me.”
I mentioned a break in a typically full calendar at the beginning of this note…well that calendar is usually packed with calls and meetings as I work hard to provide for you and our family. I have big dreams of what I want to accomplish during my time here with the talents and abilities that God has given me. I don’t want to leave anything on the table as it relates to my effort and desire. I want to be a dad you can count on, I want to be an example of how to love relentlessly, I want to teach you how to be wildly generous towards others and to make an impact on those around you. I want you to see in me, however imperfect it may be, a picture of what your heavenly father is like. I want to teach you how to hear and discern God’s voice and how to relentlessly and boldy follow and obey it wherever he may lead you. I want to instill in you an unshakable sense of self-worth and to challenge you to chase your passions and desires.
If I were to somehow do all those things by the end of my time here with you, I’d consider it a life well lived and I’d go see Jesus with a big fat smile on my face and spirit full of joy.
