The Perspective of Two Crowns

1 Peter 5:4, "And when the Chief Shepard appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."

My daughter and I were having a conversation yesterday, and it so happened that I was able to use an illustration to make a point. I asked her, between a gold crown and a feathered chieftain headdress which is more valuable?

She responded with the gold crown because it had more intrinsic value?

So I asked if she were an Indian, which would have more value. To which she correctly replied the Indian headdress.

So our discussion led to the fact that value really is something that is socially and culturally determined. That gold and feather have equal value depending on cultural perspective.

And yet if we take a heavenly cultural perspective. If we view both from a kingdom of God perspective we find both equally valueless. The power they represent is meaningless next to the power and authority of Christ. The gold of the one crown is the equivalent of asphalt in heaven, and the streets are paved with it.

And this is what the lesson is about. What is the value system of the kingdom of God? Because if we have this value system, if we have this perspective, then we have more opportunity to encounter and be used by God.

The value system of God when looking at this world is that all is worthless. In fact the only thing of value is inside of man. Think about it. When sin entered the earth through Adam & Eve the earth, and all it contains is forever contaminated. It is not to be rebuilt. It is not to be restored. God's end plan for the earth is final death/destruction. This is the effect sin has on everything it touches. It must die. For our flesh God gave us Christ as an appropriation, as a sacrificial death in place of our flesh. Allowing us to be born new and clean and out of the punishment of death in Spirit only. Same goes for heaven. Heaven was contaminated by sin. Satan brought sin into heaven. Therefore heaven as it exists today must also die. This is why God revealed in Revelation that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (Rev. 21:1)

Point is this... if you put value in ANYTHING external, any form of earthly wealth then you have invested in something that is worthless in terms of being a store for of real wealth. Gold today is over $1600 per ounce because mankind perceives it as a storage of wealth. But reality is obedience to God is the real storage of wealth. Obedience is what Christ was referring to in Matt. 6: 19-20 when He said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;" We store up when we obey.

Buy gold if God tells you. Save money if God tells you. Do not give if God tells you, no. But do not have the perspective money of anything earthly is wealth. The wealth is in the obedience to the commands God gives you. God may say buy gold, sell gold, and then give to the poor. All to be obeyed, but don't miss the value and where the wealth is. The wealth is in the obedience. The reward of obedience is the true wealth, it is a crown in the kingdom of God. A Crown of righteousness, a crown of life, a crown of glory are given as wealth. These are the crowns we will cast at Jesus' feet. The crown will have nothing to do with earthly wealth and/of power.

In the end it is all perspective. Take a look at William Law's perspective in 1822. From Christian Perfection he says, "Our blessed Savior came into the world not to make any composition with it, or to divide things between heaven and earth, but to make war with every state of life, to put an end to the designs of flesh and blood, and to shows, that we must either leave this world to become sons of God, or, by enjoying it, take our portion amongst devils..."

I differ in that I believe God will allow our flesh some enjoyments because it is refreshing to the soul in the war, but always remember the perspective. Christ is at "war with every state of life." Guard your hearts that you have the right perspective, that you are fighting on the right side so that you may obtain the true wealth in obedience.