You’ll glow the brightest when you love the most and labor in the power of the Lord’s grace.
SHAUNA: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Today Joni shares an unfamiliar hymn, but I tell you what, it really shines.
(Joni sings:)
Who are these like stars appearing,
These before God’s throne who stand?
Each a golden crown is wearing;
Who are all this glorious band?
Alleluia, hark, they sing,
praising loud their heav'nly King.
JONI: That is an old hymn that not many people know, but you know I sang it one night not long ago, when I stopped to admire a full moon. It was breathtaking in its beauty, and I was struck by an unusual phenomenon – a huge corona encircled the moon; the moon was shining, and its circumference spanned nearly a quarter of the night sky! You know I’ve learned enough about stargazing to understand that a corona is a glowing circle caused by light refracted by water droplets. But the entire thing was so bright, I just had to learn more. So, the next day I looked it up and I discovered that the word ‘corona’ is derived from the Latin, meaning crown. Hmm, this little fact intrigued me because I recalled how the Bible talks about crowns: “the crown of life,” the “incorruptible crown,” the “crown of righteousness,” and others. I always had a hard time picturing gold diadems studded with jewels as the rewards that Jesus gives his followers at his Judgment Seat. You know, crowns they just seemed kind of big and clunky and they seem earthly. But now, I wondered if crowns could mean coronas? Like the glowing halos of light that medieval artists painted around the heads of godly men and women.
Daniel 12:3 seems to support this idea where it says, “Those who are wise [get this] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, will shine like the stars forever and ever.” And then again in Philippians 2:15 says, “As children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation we will shine among them like stars in the sky.” Again, there’s that reference to shine, to corona, to [you know] looking like a star in the heavens and I think that is amazing!
You know, light is everywhere when you read about heaven in the Bible. And perhaps those who will be considered closest to God – such as the martyrs described in Revelation 6:9 – they will glow the most gloriously. I mean, how can you get closer to God than under his altar at the most brilliant center of the Holy City, right? The brightest part of the New Jerusalem. It seems in heaven, those who are nearest to the Lord Jesus on his throne – those who perhaps will be the ones who will shine the brightest – and they will be followers who have lovingly sacrificed the most for the sake of Christ. As an African pastor once said, “They are the ones on earth who will be finished and done with low-living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals. The ones who will glow the brightest will be those who will love the most, and labor in the power of God’s grace.”
In short, let your life glow, let it shine, with the fiery passion of sacrificial love and service to Jesus. It’s the best way to be a corona.
© Joni and Friends