 As I was sitting in worship yesterday, we were singing “I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, holy.” It’s a beautiful worship song called “Crowns Down” sung originally by Josh Baldwin and Bethel Music. Over and over, as if the title of this song was in neon letters blinking in my brain, I kept feeling God say— Crowns down. Crowns down. My mind was jogged to Deuteronomy 12. In this Chapter, God warns the Israelites that the new land they are claiming has high places that the people who went before them used as places for idol worship. Here’s what God asks them to do: “These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” (Deuteronomy 12: 1-3, NIV) Break down the altars. Burn down the pillars. Cut down the idols. All of these thoughts came together in that moment of worship to lead me to ask this question: What high places and crowns must come down? I work “from home” but typically get a little stir crazy being at the house and venture out to a local coffee shop. As I sat down today at a Starbucks with a fresh latte and peered through the steam at my computer screen, I was reminded of this question and my memory was jogged back to a writing I had previously done on the topic. God needed me to remember this… and I think it may be for you to. For us to take new ground, any of us who are trying to move forward in life, the high places and our crowns must come totally down. The idols we’re worshiping. Our preferences and comforts and opinions and truths. The ways we’ve adapted to cultures' versions of “Christianity,” “Church” and “worship.” The roots that have taken hold. Our selfish glorification. Anything we’ve placed above God and His Word. This is serious. Wrecking balls, arson, and axe-throwing kind of serious. Bring your sledgehammer to this party. Last but definitely not least, God says: Wipe out their names from these places. After total destruction, take care to make sure that these idols don't have any foothold, claim or name anymore. Maybe where this song and verse connects is at the fact that our crowns keep us high. Our accolades or accomplishments. Who we think we are on our own as the kings and queens of our lives. It places our idols as the priority and makes us chase after more and more jewels to try to fill our temporary crowns, distracting us from eternal glory. But when we realize that we’re to cut down the idols completely out, this gives us no space to situate our earthly crowns comfortably on our heads. There’s no wiggle room here to hold onto any high thing. Our only option is to cast it completely aside. Revelation 4:10-11 describes a scene where “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. (NIV)” They understand what we must— everything we have is from God. No crown is worth more than what Jesus did on the cross. So, we cast all we have at His feet in gratitude and the knowledge that its all worthless compared to our worth in light of His glory. We cut down every idol. We surrender all. And, it's in that laying down of our earthly crowns, that God allows us to pick up the crowns of life (James 1:12), of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8), or glory (1 Peter 5:1-4), of eternity (1 Corinthians 9:24-25), and rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). So, back to the question for us all today trying to move up into what God has for us: What high places and crowns must come down? Think About It:
Our Prayer: Lord, There are things in our lives— goals, motherhood, acceptance, work, etc.— that we have lifted higher than you. Bring those idols to our minds right now and help us bring them completely down. There are crowns we have selfishly tried to design out of earthly accomplishments and we realize how they pale in comparison to all you offer us when we lay all we have at your feet. We stand today as women crowned not with our own worth, but yours. Help us today to set all we have and all we are at your feet so that we can walk boldly as women adorned with life, righteousness, God’s glory, heaven's promise of eternity, and rejoicing. Every high place and crown must come down. We crown YOU Jesus. Because you are worthy. In your Holy Name we pray, Amen
Join Kaley this weekend at Glory to Glory! 
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