A crown for you

There is going to be a lot of bling on display this weekend. It’s impossible to estimate how much the crown jewels are worth because they are priceless but estimates range around £5 billion. No wonder that there were police everywhere I looked when I went to Buckingham Palace yesterday. (Sadly, I wasn’t invited inside).

As you watch King Charles being crowned, here is a thought for you. God crowns you.

God crowns you with jewels more priceless than the Black Prince's Ruby, the Stuart Sapphire, and the Cullinan diamond. God crowns you with love and compassion (Psalm 103).

What a beautiful picture – God giving his love and compassion to us, not to tuck away but to display as we show love and compassion to those around us, because we are part of his family, royal children of the King of Love.

Apparently, you need good posture to wear a crown. You can’t have your head down or it falls off and it hurts your neck. You need to know who you are and lift up your eyes.

When you know you are child of the King of love, you can hold your head high but you cannot look down on anyone because your King is humble. Your king wore a crown of thorns. Your king was enthroned because he went low to lift us up.

With a crown comes a realm. Where do you reign? In Romans 5, Paul tells us where we are to reign - in life. Not the kind of reign that oppresses or intimidates but a reign of grace as we receive God’s abundant grace, in our places of defeat. dWe are to reign in life with love and compassion, bringing God’s justice and righteousness into our home and our work and our communities.

As you watch Charles being crowned, remember that God wants to crown you with his love and compassion. And that there are more crowns waiting for you – the crown of life (James 1:12), the crown of righteousness ( 2 Timothy 4:8) and the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1 Peter 5:4). The royal crown will sparkle brightly in Westminster Abbey but your crown is infinitely more precious.