Crown of Righteousness

October 13

Jeremiah 17-18

Psalm 114

Proverbs 24:30-34

2 Timothy 4

Crown of Righteousness

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”  2 Timothy 4:7-8 NIV

A crown of righteousness is being stored up for us that we will receive on “that day.”  “That day” is referring to the day of judgment when all Christians will stand before the judgement seat of Christ to be judged and receive rewards based on the life we have lived. Thankfully, the crown of righteousness is not a crown based on our works or our righteousness.  It is based on the righteousness of Christ and His work on our behalf.  The crown of righteousness will be given to everyone who has accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord and has been credited with His righteousness.  “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness— for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”  Romans 4:23-25 (NIV) We will all get a crown of righteousness on that day, but we will also be judged for what we did here on Earth. 

We all hope at the end of our lives we will be able to look back and say the words, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV) We want to enter our Father’s presence and hear the words, “Well done My good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:23 (NIV) Throughout the New Testament, Paul uses the imagery of an athlete running a race.  He is not giving us a picture of an easy, leisurely life.  The life of an athlete is strict and disciplined.  They are in constant training.  They don’t let up.  From a spiritual perspective, Paul is stressing that God has a race marked out for each one of us.  He has things we are supposed to be accomplishing and that should be our mindset.  I am a very goal-oriented person, so I hope when I get to Heaven, I can see that I accomplished the things that God put me here to do.  I don’t want to have wasted the life He gave me on things that had no eternal value.  I want to finish the race and finish it well.  I don’t want to come huffing and puffing across the finish line in last place.  Runners know that you have to pace yourself.  Many people start out on fire, but then when life gets tough, they lose their passion, and their discipline. They don’t finish well.  They don’t do the things they need to do to continue to grow in their faith.  I don’t want that to happen to me. I don’t just want a participation trophy; I want a gold medal.  How about you?