This quarter, we focus on Jesus as our Soon-Coming King in our weekly devotional series. This week’s devotional comes from Matt. 6 – 12.
Someone once said that we have often talked about the second coming of Christ while many people have never even heard about the first. When I was growing up, the subject of the imminent return of Jesus Christ seemed to be preached often. We sang about it, we talked about it, and we urged people to make personal decisions about their relationship with Jesus before it was too late.
Then there seemed to be a gradual shift where pastors talked exclusively about the first coming—the present rule and reign of Christ. We know from Matt. 10 that Jesus talked about establishing his kingdom of authority over this dark age, over principalities and powers. It is an important theme that has been developed, taught and practiced. That focus allowed the church to establish its rightful role in being the expressed representation of God here on Earth.
The fourth Foursquare symbol—a crown rightly arrayed in purple, symbolizing royalty—expresses the expectation that the return of Jesus should never be far from helping balance our current perspective. If anything, current world events seem to align precisely with the Bible’s admonition to us to not be taken “unaware.” God has an ultimate plan to create a new heaven and a new earth.
What I appreciate most about the genius of the four symbols of our movement—representing Jesus as our Savior, Healer, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit and Soon-Coming King—is that these symbols provoke us to a balanced view and practice concerning the ministry of God’s Son.
I challenge you today to live and lead with these tensions. Life lived in any extreme will come up short. It will not accomplish all that He intended. I plan to live my life fully contending for His present kingdom to rule and reign while continuing to anticipate the sound of a trumpet. My prayer is that you will not lose sight of that, either.
Some say that we are sometimes so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. But what if we have become so earthly focused that we’ve lost sight of His ultimate plan? I am praying for and anticipating us to be both heavenly minded and earthly focused!
By: Glenn Burris, president of The Foursquare Church
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