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The Square Gospel

by Jerry Ousley  
5/16/2009 / Christian Living

I have never been able to draw a perfect circle or a perfect square. My circles usually come out sort of shaped like an egg; sometimes upright and sometimes on their sides. My squares are usually more rectangular in shape and sometimes in other shapes that have names I'm not familiar with. Don't get me wrong, my squares normally have four sides but to say that it is a true square, well that issue is still out for debate.

Did you know that the Gospel could be compared to a square? In the King James Version of the Bible there are several places where the word is interpreted as foursquare meaning that it has four equal sides. In reality it is more than a square and really a cube. Most of the furnishings of the Tabernacle were in this shape. Even the great city that is coming after our Lord returns is compared to this shape; Revelation 21:16 talks about this Holy City that will come down from Heaven saying, "The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with a reed: Twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal." Some of you may already know this but a furlong is defined as one eighth of a mile. If you divide twelve thousand by eight you get fifteen hundred miles that is. We have some very large cities in this world today but none of them stretch out for fifteen hundred miles. To illustrate, this defines the coming city of God to be equal to stretching from New York to Florida and an equal distance in the other direction. But it doesn't stop there, because the height is equal to the length and breadth. Can you imagine a cube-shaped city that large?

Our lives should also be lived by the "Square Gospel" principal. First of all we must have length. Our spiritual length represents what we are reaching for. As believers in Christ Jesus we need to reach out in our lives. We should never be satisfied with being in one spiritual place all the time. Our goals need to be far-reaching but they must be influenced by God. He will give us goals that we can obtain, that reach way past what we thought we could do. This isn't to encourage us in over-taxing ourselves with busy work but to know that God has a future for each of us. When we come to Christ it doesn't mean that our life is over but that it is just beginning. He will allow us to accomplish things that we never thought possible.

Then we need to have breadth. Our length and breadth will be equal if we are in God's perfect will. Our breadth could be defined as including others in the goals God has set for us. Just as Jesus reached out on the cross and loved others even in His dying moments so we must reach out to others. The Gospel the Good News that Christ died to save us should always be a part of our lives not only as we reach out to God but also as we reach out to those who surround us.

Our lives must also have depth. Our depth could be defined as our being "rooted and grounded" in the faith. We must reach deep. A tree normally goes very deep into the earth with its roots bringing moisture and nourishment from those dark recesses. So our spiritual selves should be firmly planted and reach deep. As we do this we become more firmly planted and the storms of life cannot send us toppling over. We bend and sway under the winds of life but because of our depth we will not fall. We will stand firm in Christ Jesus.

Finally we must have height. We reach up to the heavens as we reach up to God. We look up to Him. Our outlook is a positive one. Even though bad things may come to us we have the eternal promise and hope of one day being a citizen of that New Jerusalem the largest city this world will ever see. As we shape ourselves with the "Square Gospel" we will assure ourselves of a very nice place to live in that fifteen hundred mile cube-shaped city of God. So, are you square?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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