When Repentance is Real (Jonah 3:10)

Today’s Readings: Jonah 3:1-10

God saw all they did and how they turned from their evil ways. So He relented and decided not to unleash the disasters He said He would through His servant Jonah.

A few days ago we had an experience in our house. My grandkids call my wife “Mimi”. That’s not what she wanted them to call her, but when the first started calling her “Mimi,” she fell apart and, of course, she’s okay with it. So, Mimi it is for all the grandkids. Mimi is a wonderful grandmother. She is a firm believer that parents teach kids respect and values and obedience and all those tough rules of life. Grandparents are the safe, fun place for kids. We give boundaries, but our boundaries are a little looser than mom and dad’s. It’s okay to have a snack before supper at Mimi’s house. It’s okay to run around the house at Mimi’s house. It’s okay to stay up past bedtime at Mimi’s house.

As grandparents, we reinforce the values we taught our kids, but the strict rules we laid down for our kids don’t seem quite as important for our grandkids. We let a few of those slide for them since they don’t live there full-time. If they did, I’m sure we would tighten the reins just like mom and dad because kids need structure and boundaries, but as occasional visitors, we get to spoil them a little.

So with that little bit of background, let me explain the experience. Mimi has a big glass cookie jar sitting on the counter labeled “Mimi Cookies” that always has cookies in it. The grandkids know they can have cookies when they ask. Except Grayson, the just-turned-three monkey, decided she didn’t need to ask because whenever she asked, she always got a cookie. We almost always said “Yes” so why bother to wait.

She pulled a step-stool up to the counter and proceeded to try to pull the lid off the cookie jar. And therein lies the problem. It’s one of those sealed lids that takes three men and a boy to pull off. Grayson pulled with all her strength and the jar hit the floor. The glass jar was not made of safety glass. It did not break in nice square pieces, easy to see and easy to clean up. No. The jar itself stayed intact and the lid shattered into a million little slivers of glass scattered across the floor, two counters, and three rugs. Mimi was not happy!

Mimi and mom both had that MOM look in their eye. You know the one. It’s that look you get as a kid that says, “Run if you want to survive, but if you run, it will be three times as bad so you better sit still!” Mimi’s eyes locked on Grayson’s. I knew the fire was about to fall. I was trying to find a place to hide so I could escape the wrath. And then. . .

“Mimi, I sorry,” came from the sad eyes with a pouty half-smile below them.

Mimi melted. No punishment. “Don’t do it again,” was all she said.

Well, duh! How could she? It was already broken! It was already in a million pieces. No one could put it back together. Forgiveness was complete!

Mom stood back in amazement. How could she do that? How could she not do something? How could she let this little demon get away with breaking the sacred receptacle of all things good? What was Mimi thinking?

It’s pretty easy to explain. Mimi is a grandmother. God did the same for the people of Nineveh. They repented. He forgave. It’s nice to have Mimis around. It’s better to have God around.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

How deep can prejudice and hatred go? (Jonah 1:12)

Today’s Readings: Jonah 1-4

“…so pick me up and throw me into the sea! Then the sea will grow calm again, and you’ll be safe! This is all my fault! This great storm of my God’s anger has built against you because of me!”

I grew up in the south during the 50’s and 60’s. For a lot of people around today, those times are just ancient history. However, those times shaped a lot of beliefs I had to overcome in later life. As some of you remember from those days, the racial strife and discrimination ran rampant across our country. Our country doesn’t differ so much from any other, but in those days, the obvious discrimination appeared everywhere. There were ‘whites only’ restrooms and restaurants. School segregation happened everywhere and the money went to the ‘whites only’ schools. If you weren’t white, you sat in the back of the bus, regardless of the number of empty seats.

I overcame those prejudices went I went into the Army and discovered people are people everywhere. Even in countries we call our enemies, the average citizen is just like the average citizen here. They want nothing more than to have a peaceful life and raise their children. They want their children to enjoy a better standard of living than they did.

The prejudice problem faced Jonah. The capital of Assyria housed itself in Nineveh. God used the Assyrians to conquer the middle-east and particularly to bring Israel to justice for their failure to follow His decrees. But Assyria went to far. God planned their invasion, He did not approve of the torturous treatment, the human sacrifices, and the runaway evil across the nation. So He called Jonah to warn the city He would destroy it very soon.

Now, examine Jonah’s reactions. He hated the Assyrians so much, he headed to Tarshish the farthest point west any Israelite traveled. Nineveh lay as far east as any Israelite traveled. To avoid giving God’s call to repentance to his enemies, Jonah essentially traveled to the opposite side of the world.

We know the story of the fish swallowing Jonah and vomiting him on the shore and his journey back to Nineveh. Most often we stop the story there. We don’t look at his attitude and actions through the rest of the story. You see, when the storm came up, Jonah preferred to have the sailors toss him into the sea than to go to Nineveh. I expect, if Jonah promised God he would return to carry out his mission, God would change the winds and Jonah would not need to spend three days in the belly of a fish.

If Jonah weren’t so prejudiced against his enemies, he would have traveled west from Nineveh and returned to his home instead of finding a hill on which he could overlook the city and watch God destroy it after he gave the message to Nineveh. God would not have to teach him lessons about love through the growing of the vine and its destruction by the worm.

Until the end, Jonah’s prejudice and hatred of the Assyrians kept God from blessing him. We hear no more of Jonah until Jesus mentions his three days and nights in the belly of the fish as the sign of His resurrection. Jonah could have been a great man, had he obeyed God in the first place and left his prejudices aside. Instead, he wished to die three times. He ended up in the belly of a fish where over three days the acid in its stomach no doubt burned off his hair, scarred his body, and perhaps left him almost blind. Still his hatred for his enemies caused God to teach him more lessons on the hillside.

Don’t let your prejudices get in the way of God’s mission for your life. He created our enemies as surely as He created us. He loves them as surely as He loves us. Let’s figure out how to get over ourselves and love our enemies and our neighbors like we love ourselves.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Be a Jonah (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Today’s Readings: Psalms 75-77; 2 Timothy 3

Don’t you love God’s word? He doesn’t tell us things will get better for us tomorrow like some people try to tell us, but at least He’s honest with us. Listen to Paul’s words to Timothy. Don’t be naïve. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God! They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals.

Pretty nice picture of the end times. Well, it describes most of the populace of most of our cities today, I’m afraid. It looks to me like we are there, or at least we can see it in the next block and headed our way fast. Does that mean there is no hope for our world and this is the end of everything? I’m not sure. I think it depends on the remnant of real Christians who are still around.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them to repent because He was about to destroy their city due to their wickedness. Jonah’s message got the king and everyone wore sackcloth and ashes, repented, and the city was spared. Jonah didn’t like it and learned some lessons along the way, but the God spared the city because they did repent. They heard the message and believed Him.

The question for today is, if we boldly lived our Christian lives in front of the world today and shared the message of eternal life for those who believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior, would it change the lives of enough people who God would spare our world for another two millennia? If we were Jonah for those lost souls around us, would they listen? Are our lives so changed by the transforming power of God’s Spirit in us that we can show them a better way to live and they would believe in that transforming power and repent?

Right now, the Barna studies show that there is no difference in behavior between the churched and the unchurched, so I’m not writing to those who just have their name on a membership role. I’m writing to real Christians. Transformed men and women. People changed by the power of God’s Spirit living in them. There is a difference. If you haven’t experienced that kind of transformation, you can. Search the scriptures. Let go of yourself and let God have control of your life. It’s not too late…yet.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard