Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Jewel In My Crown?


I am curious about the phrase "jewels in your crown."

I have a family member who is very dear and very religious. She has a habit of saying "you've earned a jewel in your crown" whenever she approves of something you've done. From what I've observed, the blessing doesn't seem to be tied to the magnitude of the gesture. If you've fed a homeless person, you've earned a jewel in your crown. If you've passed the butter, you've earned a jewel in your crown.

And so I started Googling. I wanted to find out exactly where in the bible it talks this subject. I found a lot of vague references to good deeds earning you these jewels ... and a lot of people congratulating people for doing something that has, again, earned them these ubiquitous jewels. But no where could I find an actual bible verse that references this topic.

Not, let me assure you, I'm not a moron. I understand these are metaphorical jewels and that God is not running a Heavenly Federal Reserve. I don't think anyone is under the idea that the Archangel Michael is a winged CFO keeping track of how many jewels someone has earned and how much interest they're owed.

However, I'm curious over whether this is just a man-made phenomenon ... or if there really was a parable or scripture verse that said something along the lines of ... if you do good deeds, you will earn a jewel in your heavenly crown.

Anyone with biblical knowledge out there wanna take a shot?

I was on the inside
When they pulled the four walls down
I was looking through the window
I was lost, I am found
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow

U2 - I Will Follow

Ruth 1:16: "But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:42 PM

    I will! I will! There is no verse that I can find about earning jewels in your crown with good deeds. The Bible does say that God's people will receive crowns, but they will be given because of Jesus's goodness, not their own - and then one day, all of those crowns will be cast at Jesus's feet, acknowledging that he gets all of the glory. So there you have it - crowns because Jesus is good and loves us and in some miraculous way gives us the benefits of his goodness. Pretty cool!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3:04 PM

    I too have just spent the last hour and a half looking for the same bible references and have found none pertaining to "receiving a jewel in my crown". I have often heard this saying as well and have quoted it. As a member of BSF for many years this question was brought up yesterday by one of my small group members. The references our notes gave were as follows regarding the receiving of crowns and garments for those who believe.
    "All believers are promised pure white garments of righteousness and crowns of reward and glory in Christ."
    References: 2Timothy 4:7-8; James 1:12;, 1Peter 5:4;, and Revelation 19:7-8
    crown of righteousness, crown of life, crown of glory, and fine linen, bright and clean

    Again, nothing speaks of us getting jewels in our crown which personally isn't what matters to me, just knowing that I will be with him in eternity. Plain crown, no crown, I'm good! Hope this helps you and others as it helped me. Btw, for now, I won't be using the saying anymore as I find no scripture to back it up. If someone else has an explanation that they can find in scripture I'd be eager to research it. Blessings to all!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was recently at a memorial service where the Pastor said the person definitely earned many jewels for her crown. I began the search for the verse and couldn't find any. I hope people don't think they earn things by doing good deeds.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:03 AM

    From an eastern perspective, which is also true of Jesus, our bodies are a complete replica of the tent in the wilderness that went with the Israelites during their 40 yr trik before reaching the promise land. They had a lot of spiritual work to do during those years. Changing their slavery mentality to one of a free one, takes times. In our bodies, on the top of our head is what is considered our crown, our glory, where the spiritual meets with the natural man. Through out our bodies there are energy points. And each serves its purpose for our well being in this physicality. . In short, the saying "as within so without" ... applies to our own individual spiritual work. What is manifesting outwardly in our individual life, is simply but the result of our inward workings. Scripture: for as a man thinks in his heart, so it is.

    A beautiful scripture I took to memory many years ago that fits right in here to end my comment, without preaching a whole sermon step by step, and for you to give your spiritual life an awakening reads like this in the KJV:

    Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being found in fashion of a man, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ...

    My aim: exercising the mind of Christ! Which reveals wisdom n knowledge. Not man made philosophies, and moves me away from "the letter of the word which kills!"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:20 AM

    The closest I can find in this is Zechariah 9:16 “The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people: They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown”

    ReplyDelete