There are two readings for today.
SCRIPTURE: Jonah 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. [Jonah 3:4-5]
Go to work today and warn your coworkers that unless they change their ways, they will be doomed.
Tell them that the path they are on is leading them towards ruin, and that they need to get themselves straight with God if they’re going to be saved!
Jonah’s assignment was a little different; it was more like a Palestinian going into a Jewish settlement and telling them that unless they repented, they were doomed.
Or a South Korean going to Pyongyang in North Korea and predicting the fall of their nation… nice assignment!
But what is hard to believe is that the Ninevites believed the message… and repented!
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” [Mark 1:14-15]
John came preaching a message of repentance, and was put in prison.
Now Jesus preaches a message of repentance, and He is eventually crucified.
Apparently people do not always like being told to repent.
Keep this in mind as you go to your work and announce their doom.
Is this what we are supposed to do?
I have to admit, preaching doom is hardly something I want to do.
But what if they were doomed, what if they were on the brink of destruction, would I warn them then?
I’ll be honest, I do not normally see others as on the brink of destruction.
Though I do see people on a slow-moving path towards emptiness and despair.
The people I see around me right now, without God their lives cannot end well.
This is not being judgmental, as if I am better than them, but basic reality – like saying that without oxygen these people will die.
How do we get this message out, without sounding like a religious nutcases?
It starts with believing that people need God, and are doomed without Him.
It then involves talking with God, and discerning who He wants us to talk to (Jonah did not randomly pick Nineveh, he was sent there).
It also involves loving the people as much as God does [which as we will see Jonah did not, Jonah 4].
It involves the Holy Spirit, since only He can open and change the human heart.
And finally it involves trust, leaving the results to God and knowing that His message is effective, and can even lead hard-hearted people (like Nineveh) to repent.
PRAYER:
Lord, I need to be reminded how people are doomed without You. And I need to love them more, and be willing to speak out when You send me.