Abba's Dearly Beloved

“The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head…”

John 19:2 (NIV)

“A crown of thorns he wore for us and crowned us with eternal life, you [Jesus] chose the cross.” This line from the worship song by Martyn Layzell sums up beautifully and movingly the cost of what Jesus willingly went through for love for you and me. Should this put you reader in any doubt for God’s heart towards you and me? The cross is not a reminder of our failure but a reminder of his triumph in which we now stand. Indeed the cross is the visible expression of God’s heart of love for each person as woven through the agony of those twisted thorns and nail scarred hands, God himself incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth took on himself all of humanity’s brokenness, its deep seated shame, wrong behaviour and sickness.  The vessel holding all the symptoms of our brokenness, sin and sickness in which we fell short were pressed and poured onto him until the vessel was emptied. With his dying breath, Jesus said confirmed it is finished and in resurrection from the dead he leads each of us by the hand in the power of the Holy Spirit into the Holy, loving and intimate presence of God whose affection and company we can enjoy as we like Adam and Eve can walk once again with our maker in the cool of the day! We are not only redeemed, our identity is transformed by him who loved us and gave himself for us (Ephesians 5:2 NIV).

What a wonderful God we have! I could finish on such a wonderful note of profound gospel truth but I would like to linger for a moment on the crown of thorns that Jesus wore for us. A crown of two to three inch sharp thorns from branches most likely identified as belonging to the Euphorbia Milii or crown of thorns plant was woven into a circular crown and pierced Jesus’ head as he was made to wear it by Roman soldiers presiding over his flogging in mock reference to Jesus’ claims of kinship. It was for our sake that our saviour was pierced not only in his side at the cross but also his head by a crown of thorns to receive the twisted ravages of our fallen thoughts and beliefs; the lies, shame, fear, deceit, malice, torment and rejection that we entertained and wore as our identity: our own crown of thorns.  Our saviour took from each of us this crown that pierced our minds and set it on himself. In its place through his victory over death, sin and brokenness, we are given a new crown to wear, a crown of royalty that Jesus sets on our heads along with new kingly and queenly robes and regalia that he gives us that represent our newfound identity purchased entirely by his righteous blood shed for us. David’s words in Psalm 103 prophetically describes the crown that we receive from Jesus: a crown of love and tender mercies (Psalm 103:4 NLT).  

Not only does this new crown that we wear point to the transformation of our identity from lost orphans to his very own royal children, but as Paul proclaims, we now through our union with our risen, loving saviour have a new mindset: the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We have the joy of sharing heavens thoughts made known to us by the revealed Word of God and the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. We do not have to subscribe to a mindset of shame that strives to be good enough or by the negative, unkind and belittling things that others have spoken against us or that we have believed about ourselves. These were driven as thorns onto our saviour’s head for our freedom and in their place the hope and renewal for our minds in the truth of who we now are and who God really is.

The healing, restorative journey from the head to the heart where knowing about someone or something becomes a reality to us within takes time but ultimately will affect and change what we think or believe. Therefore, our minds require daily immersion in the truth of our sonship and daughterhood and deepening our relationship with the perfect love and holiness of our Heavenly Father. Otherwise we can lose sight of who we are and who God is through the lies or negative thoughts that are thrown at us by daily exposure to the standards, practices and beliefs of a world estranged from its divine maker or by the defeated enemy of God, Satan.

Therefore spending time and learning to be still in the presence of God, reading and meditating on his Word regularly and asking and receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit is so important as is learning to take every thought that does not line up with God’s truth and surrender it to Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

So this week try if you can to make sufficient time and space to spend time with God, ask Holy Spirit to help you find scriptures, pictures and prophetic words that will reveal to your heart truth about who you are and who God is and how he feels about you.

Renewal of our mind is a lifelong process and sadly it doesn’t mean we no longer have anxious thoughts or face battles of all kinds in our minds but for those of you who are struggling today in your mind or in your mental health know that there is a certain hope in Jesus. He identifies with us not only because he as a man experienced the same range of human emotions and thoughts as we did but he knows the exact thoughts and fears we may be are struggling with. For upon his brow was laid every lie, every sinful, discouraging, anxious or judgmental thought and every mental health issue that we have encountered through the twisted crown of thorns he wore for us.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you that it was for our sake that you wore a crown of thorns and hung on a cross for us bearing on your mind the weight of every last lie, wrong, anxious, unkind thought and mental health ailment that we have or will experience. Thank you that you exchanged the divine crown that you gave up for a crown of thorns worn for us so that for the passionate unyielding love to redeem fallen humanity, we might be lovingly bestowed with a new crown signifying our new identity as Gods own children now received as royalty in his kingdom. I lay down any thought [name anything that specifically comes to mind] to you Jesus now and ask for forgiveness for any thought or belief that I have entertained that doesn’t line up with the freedom and true identity into which you have called me. Thank you that each day is another day of my mind being renewed in who I am and who you are, the beloved child in the arms of a perfect loving Heavenly Father. In your precious name Jesus, Amen.