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Monday, January 10, 2011

A Crown of Righteousness

"There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."--2 Timothy 4:8.  These were among Paul's last words to Timothy prior to his death.  Paul had what some would call an eager expectation of what was to come.  Elsewhere Paul says to die is gain which was discussed in a previous devo.  Paul knew what his future held and he could not wait to receive it.  Today I ask myself shouldn't our attitude be the same when it comes to our future in heaven?

A crown.  When I think of a crown,. I typically think of a king.  I watched the movie King Arthur the other night with a brother in Christ.  What I see in that movie as far as armor and a crown is really what I visualize when I think of a crown of righteousness.  Granted, Paul may not be speaking of a physical crown but what he is looking forward to is the whole point of what we all need to be striving towards. Paul also speaks elsewhere in Scripture about pressing on towards the goal.  In his day, the winner of a competition would receive some sort of crown.  Christianity is a competition.  Not a competition where only one person wins.  Also not a competition where we compete against each other but a competition against, as Paul would put it in Ephesians 6, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Our competition is against Satan Himself.  The competition is between God and Satan.  Satan is competing for our souls.  If one is in Christ, the victory is yours by the grace of God.  And the victory is God's no matter what.  But while Satan knows he is already the loser, he is doing all he can to take others down with him.  But here is what we need to remember.  As we press on toward the goal, we have to remember that we all have victory through Christ.  Because of this fact, there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness.  I pray that we will continue to press on toward the goal to win the prize, the crown.  Paul also said in order to win the prize, we must compete according to the rules, God's rules of course.  Reader, if you are in Christ, press on by following the commands of God in your DAILY walk with Him.  Why? Because there is laid for you and for me a crown of righteousness.  Pray about it, love you guys and God bless!

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