Becoming a Jonah

I’ve done this. I’ve became Jonah. Because after a while, you see so much evil and wickedness, that you lose your love. You become calloused. Unsympathetic. And lose your care for others because of how much evil they do.

And for those that don’t know the story of Jonah—Jonah was a prophet called by God to give a warning of judgement and preach repentance to a evil and wicked city called Nineveh. But Jonah rebelled against God and did not do it because he did not want to see the city turn away from their sins and be saved.

Here is another summary:

Jonah’s fear and pride cause him to run from God. He does not wish to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to the people, as God has commanded, because he feels they are his enemies, and he is convinced that God will not carry out his threat to destroy the city. Instead he boards a ship for Tarshish, which is in the opposite direction. Soon a raging storm causes the crew to cast lots and determine that Jonah is the problem. They throw him overboard, and he is swallowed by a great fish. In its belly for 3 days and 3 nights, Jonah repents of his sin to God, and the fish vomits him up on dry land (we wonder what took him so long to repent). Jonah then makes the 500-mile trip to Nineveh and leads the city in a great revival. But the prophet is displeased (actually pouts) instead of being thankful when Nineveh repents. Jonah learns his lesson, however, when God uses a wind, a gourd, and a worm to teach him that He is merciful.

GotQuestions

You start to become like Jonah. I did that. I metaphorically sat under a tree and said, “Let them all perish. They deserve it.” And many times, I become a little more than Jonah, “Let them all perish. Destroy this evil and wicked world even if it means destroying me with it, it’ll be better off, more good than what it is today.”

God’s reminder…

But God reminds me that I was one of them before. I was wicked just like them. And He forgave me for all that I did. And even more so, He reminds me that I’m not bulletproof. I’m not strong or smart or brave or confident or even good at all… not without Him.

So why shouldn’t He forgive them as well? I didn’t know better, and neither do they. So why shouldn’t they be cared about to? Why shouldn’t they be given the gospel and taught as I was taught? Why shouldn’t they be reached out to and given the gospel and shown them God as it was done to me?

When I was them, I would have wanted to be saved, to be better. To be taught. To be cared about and forgiven. When I was them, the one thing I needed was love and care. To be taken in, nurtured, care for, hugged, warmed, loved and not castaway. Not outcast and forsaken.

God does not outcast His people, He doesn’t forsake us. He loves and cares, and that’s what He did for me. He gives mercy and kindness. So why shouldn’t that be done for them?

Renewing your love for people

So He stirs up my care for them. My compassion for people. Melts my heart of stone, warms my heart of ice. He holds a mirror up to me and shows me the hypocrite.

He lets me loose and distances Himself from me… to remind me who I would be without Him, if no one had reached out to share Him with me. Then He returns back to me, and shows me who I am with Him… because someone shared the gospel with me. And He sends me off to do what I should’ve done before, just as it was with Jonah, to share the gospel with others. And to love and care with great compassion for His people, as He did and does for me.

Share the Post:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

“All things must be weakened before they can be strengthened.”

Last night, I was thinking about my walk with God. And I was wondering why, recently, I’ve been struggling and wrestling with the devil… And then it popped into my head. It came to mind—that in my earlier years, I’d pray and ask God to strengthen me. To make me stronger, braver and strengthen my faith in Him. To turn me into a warrior and make me unbreakable. So God’s been allowing me to get into fights and struggle with the devil and his demons. To be at war with

Read More »

You cannot achieve anything without faith.

You have faith that your car will start when you turn the key. You have faith that the grocery store will have food in it. You have faith that when you go to sleep, you’ll wake up the next day. Because if you didn’t, you’d never turn the key. You’d never go to the grocery store. You’d never go to sleep. “I’ve done it before.” And people will say, “Well duh. I’ve gone to the grocery store and they have food. I can see that they have food. I’ve done

Read More »

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The people with this mentality will starve. If I gave you some seeds and said, “Here, plant these seeds, water them and take care of them for 6 months and it’ll feed you and your family.” You, with no prior knowledge of plants, seeds, crops, farming, etc…Having never heard of it before…You’d go, “Prove it. I’ll believe it when I see it.” And you won’t take the seeds and plant them. As far as you’re concerned, those tiny little seeds won’t turn into food for you. How could those tiny

Read More »

All Of Life Summed Up In An Article

P.P.S Note: The overall idea and thoughts are all present for the most part. The article still needs to be cleaned up a little. I had dedicated this day to God and asked Him to put on my hurt what He’d like me to write about. And this is what was put on my heart and I began writing about it. I’ve been writing for about 7-8 hours today. Until 1:58 AM. There are 3 aspects to life. The internal, the external, and you. The internal is how you perceive

Read More »

Have you no faith?

I may have just snapped the tendon in my knee… And it brings me to this idea… Others would immediately start praying and crying out to God, “Oh please! Please God! Heal my knee!” But… No. If God did not intend for my knee to be injured then it wouldn’t be injured. Do you think God is so weak that He cannot protect you from injury and sickness? There is always a reason. There is a reason. If He has let you become sick, there is a reason. If He

Read More »

Communism has never existed.

No country in the world—in all of history—has ever been truly communist. Not a single country has ever achieved full, complete, 100% communism. And the reason is because communism is so absolutely terrible that every single country that tries to implement it—fails before it can ever even get there. Honorable Mentions The Most Patriotic People in the US. Every person that has lived in a “communist” country and experienced capitalism is completely against it. Cubans and Vietnamese are prime examples. They absolutely despise communism and are some of the most

Read More »

Subscribe.