Crown College

I bought a sweatshirt at Goodwill the other day.  I have been wanting another grey hoodie, but I'm frugal, so I usually shop secondhand.  It often seems like the luck of the draw when you have something specific in mind and you're looking for it in a secondhand clothing store.  So when I ran across this one the other day, the right size, right color, with the words "Crown College" on it, I was a happy girl.  I don't know if other people read messages written on my clothing, but I like to carry a message just in case, and this one had potential.  I didn't know anything about Crown College, but I decided this was a prophetic sweatshirt anyway.
When I got home I did a search and discovered Crown College is in Minnesota (presumably where the sweatshirt was originally sold).  I'm sure it's a fine school, but when I saw this shirt my thoughts were that "Crown College" is very much a spiritual journey.  Think of it as another name for "School of the Holy Spirit."  It's the training grounds for the crown of life awaiting those who are approved after persevering under trial (James 1:12).
The other morning I was helping with a task I do not particularly enjoy.  It was a task of service, and although in general I find joy in serving people, I am not yet spiritually mature enough to enjoy every type of service apparently!  I am getting better I suppose, because at least soon after the fact I realized I could liken this to Jesus washing his disciples' feet (the difference was that he likely felt no chagrin in the midst of his washing and serving).  Growing in humility, developing character, giving sacrificially, loving unconditionally...these are some of the subjects covered in Crown College.
But how can we know whether we'll graduate with honors...or even graduate period?  Well, here is what I'm learning:  It's about relationship.  It's the relationship with us that Jesus and the Father desire so deeply.  Jesus is the Bridegroom, and he wants to marry us!  The Bible shows over and over again that God longs to be not only the King, but the Husband of His people.  Paul says that what God designed the human marriage of a husband and wife to be was a representation (as a shadow and type) of the relationship between Jesus and his Church.  The pure, simple truth is that God loves you and me.  No matter what we have done, who we have hurt or let down, how many times we have messed up.  It's not been enough to make Him give up on you.  He is waiting for every one of His children to return to Him, waiting for us to let Him save us.  How great is the love He has lavished upon us, that we should be called sons and daughters of God?  But is being a child of God the same as being the Bride of Christ?  Is He looking for something special in the ones He calls His Bride?
Revelation 19:7-8 has this to say about the marriage supper of the Lamb:  "'Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.' It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."
The Bride has made herself ready... If this wording is any indication, I have a role to play in experiencing the fullness of what Jesus is offering me.  Yes, He is my Savior, the one who forgave me, who wiped my slate clean, and remembers my sin no more.  But I also have the opportunity to prepare myself--to clothe myself in righteousness--for my infinitely worthy Bridegroom, who has offered His heart to me!  If we as human beings have high standards for character qualities we look for in a mate, does it not stand to reason that the King of Kings would have pretty high standards Himself?  Yes, His mercy is new every morning...perhaps with the hope that each day the Bride-to-be will grow in the understanding of what makes His heart beat...
When you look at your relationship with God in the context of a marriage, does it not change what you want to do for Him and why?  Who would feel loved if your husband or wife spent time with you out of guilt, or gave you a gift because it's just something they're supposed to do or they thought you'd be angry if they didn't, or if they begrudgingly helped one of your family members in need?  No!  We desire gifts of the heart, do we not?  We desire acts of love for love's sake.  And so, I believe, does God.
But before you start thinking that God's not gonna be pleased with you unless you're perfect (although He does say "Be perfect (complete), even as I am perfect!), consider this... Before God changed Abram's name to Abraham, He made a promise to him.  A promise that looked somewhat impossible at the time, considering his childless state.  Yet Abram "believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness."  Abraham, the friend of God, perhaps donned his bright and clean fine linen garments of Bridal righteousness simply by believing what the Lord said.  I have to think Abraham graduated with honors!