I Want to Wear the Messy Crown

Corrie ten Boom’s illustration of the right side and the wrong side of the crown is a beautiful illustration of what is to come and how God sees me.  I am blameless in His sight.   The story before the crown is not the wrong crown.  It is the crown that brings me to Jesus.  It is the right Crown. 

Corrie’s Illustration

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During Corrie’s presentations to audiences, she would often hold the back side of a piece of embroidery (pictured), with hundreds of tangled threads hanging from it. Many wondered if she was holding up the wrong side by mistake. As she held up the messy side of the embroidery she would ask, 

“Does God always grant us what we ask for in prayer? Not always. Sometimes He says, ‘No.’ That is because God knows what we do not know. God knows all. Look at this piece of embroidery. The wrong side is chaos. But look at the beautiful picture on the other side – the right side.” 

Triumphantly she flipped the cloth over and revealed an elaborately embroidered crown – symbolizing our crown of eternal life. The crown was intricately stitched, and had threads of many colors, including gold, silver and pearls. 

“We see now the wrong side, God sees His side all the time. One day we shall see the embroidery from His side, and thank Him for every answered and unanswered prayer.”

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I began to think about the right side and the wrong side in Corrie’s Illustration.  I stared at both crowns.  The messy crown on the left in Corries embroidery, the  messy crown is the crown of eternal life.  I asked God, “Why is the messy crown the crown of eternal life?”   

Each messy Strand of embroidery is a marker that has given me a glimpse of God’s glory.  “The Lord is near” rings a gentle tone as Jesus is revealed to me in each string.

I have imagined my sins are like a pebble dropped into a well and I do not hear the stone hit bottom meaning that I have so many sins and I am not always totally aware when I sin .   Therefore I cannot possible find all my sins and yank them out myself.   I need Jesus.  Every String hanging out is a significant string to Jesus. Why would I want to cover strings to Jesus and wear it on the inside of a perfect crown? 

I want to wear the beautiful messy Crown. 

I want to wear the beautiful messy crown.   I believe that is what Paul meant when he said boast in Christ Jesus.  I certainly cannot boast about Jesus while trying to wear “I perfect crown”  when it is as plain as the nose on my face that I am not and then I might as well have a note on my back that says, "just call me a hypocrite."

When the stringy crown is replaced with the "I perfect" crown we all might as well shout, “I don’t need the cross, I don’t need Jesus.”   When I put on the crown the way God sees me, I avoid Jesus and I am telling the world, “I don’t need the cross."    The world laughs.  The world sees the strings hanging on the crown.  The world sees pretend, avoid, fake the truth.  What kind of God is that, the God of Pretend?
We all want to have our cake and eat it now.  Corrie says, “One day we shall see the embroidery from His side”   While we wait…........ take off your " I perfect" crown and begin wearing the true messy crown that leads to Jesus, The Only Way.