Jonah Week 3

Jonah preached and the people of Nineveh repented. This meant that God was merciful and did not destroy them. Jonah had succeeded in his missionary journey, and you might expect that he would have been happy.

Jonah watched from the side of a mountain to see if God would destroy Nineveh. When God did not destroy it, due to their repentance, Jonah was upset and wished he would just die. God asked him why he was upset. Jonah responded by saying "I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster."

Jonah had the same attitude that we have at times over people outside of the church that finally repent and are spared. We all too often are looking for God's judgement, when we should act toward them with compassion and encourage them to get their lives right with God. By judging those outside of the church, we only drive them further from God.

We cannot lead the lost to Christ if we isolate ourselves from them. We need to live in the world without taking part in the sin of the world. Let us make our concerns the same as God's concerns, and reach the lost. As we say each Sunday, let's go and find one more.