James said that when a man endures testing, he receives a crown of life (James 1:12) while Paul said we’re in a race for which we’ll be crowned only if we “strive lawfully” (II Timothy 2:5) – that is, if we run the race by the rules. And Jesus encouraged us to lay up rewards in heaven, clearly knowing how much those rewards will mean to us, and how awesome they’ll be. (Matthew 6:20)
Crowns matter. Too many believers look at eternity only in terms of heaven or hell – you’re either in or you’re out – but scripture paints a more complex picture. The unsaved will stand before the judgment throne for condemnation, but the redeemed will also face the Judge, not to be condemned, but for rewards or loss of rewards. (I Corinthians 3: 13-15) That’s an appointment we all have with the Judgment Seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:10) and one which will determine our eternal rewards or deficits.
Which brings us to the eternal perspective on this earthly struggle with our own crazy, carnal urges. Each temptation resisted, each sin renounced, each period of discomfort we feel when we say “No” even as our flesh screams “Please!” has eternal consequence. It’s an act of worship in this life to resist temptation, and it’s a deposit on our rewards in the next.
Just because we don’t know exactly what these crowns are going to look like doesn’t mean we won’t care – and hugely! – when we either receive or lose them. Paul himself admitted that “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Corinthians 2:9) but that hardly kept him from finishing his own race. So we too, can admit that eternal crowns, like eternity itself, are hard to conceptualize. But if we’re wise, we won’t let that keep us from wanting, much less attaining, as many of them as we can. That terrific poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox nailed it years ago when she wrote:
Ah! When in the immortal ranks enlisted,
I sometimes wonder if we shall not find
That not by deeds, but by what we’ve resisted,
Our places are assigned.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox, As By Fire
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