Lay 'Em Down

Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”  Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,  and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:8-11)

I read these verses this morning and I wanted to share them with all of you.  This is such an incredible depiction of what our lives serving God should look like.  When you break these verses down, you can easily see how this can be applied to our every day lives here on earth.  These verses are talking about life in heaven but we are the walking, talking, and breathing kingdom of God here on earth.  Each and every follower of Christ here on earth is a tiny piece of heaven for this world to see.  

Day and Night:  The creatures before the throne never stop worshipping God.  They worship Him day and night by acknowledging that 1) He is holy, 2) He is the only God, and 3) That He always was and always will be.  

Fall down before Him:  The twenty-four elders around the throne literally fall down before the throne of God.  This is an act of humility and acknowledging that God is so much greater than we could every think or imagine and that we are nothing without Him.  God is constantly working in and through us.  He chooses to use us for His glory and because of this we need to humble ourselves before Him and realize that we can do nothing without God.

Lay their crowns:  The crown is a representation of not only one's accomplishments but ultimately of someone's identity.  Any king or queen in history has worn a crown and it signifies their accomplishments to get to that point and it also signifies that they are in fact the king or queen.  The twenty-four elders lay their crowns before the throne of God.  As they do this they say that God is worthy to receive glory, honor and power because ALL things have been created by God.  The significance of this for our lives is that we need to realize that our accomplishments are not of our own doing but actually God working in and through us.  Because of this, God deserves all glory, honor, and power.  Also, the significance of the elders laying their crowns down signifies that we are not defined by our accomplishments, we are defined by who we are because of God.  Christ at work in our lives defines who we are.

These few verses pack a lot of practical ways that we can live out each day.  Worship God day and night in all that you do, humble yourselves before God, and give all glory, honor, and praise to Him who was and is and is to come!  When you apply these verses to your life, you will find that it becomes easier to keep moving forward...

Kelsey J.