I just came back from retreat last weekend and we learned from the book of Jonah in great detail. I said in great detail because I have never look at the book of jonah in depth and one thing that i always know since sunday school about jonah is that, he is the prophet who run away from God and was eaten by a fish and was there for 3 days. Nothing much more apart from that.
Another thing that I learned about Jonah last weekend is that he is an unwilling prophet who is used by God anyway to accomplish his desires which is to bring many people to him and build his kingdom. Through Jonah unwillingness, God brings the captains and people on board to be christians when they realised that Jonah's God is powerful even he is able to calm the sea ( Jonah 1:16). God also brings the nation of Niniveh to come to him even though Jonah was unwillingly telling them that God is against them. It shows that God is sovereign above all and he will accomplish whatever he desires regardless of our obedience (Isaiah 55:11).
What struck me most from the book of Jonah is when I found out that he was running away from God and his responsibilities because he knows that God is a compassionate God and will forgive the people of Niniveh. Basically, he doesnt wanna to go Niniveh and tell them that God is against them because he knows that they will turn back to God and God will forgive them thus God will not destroy them. He is so selfish that he wants God to destroys the nation of Niniveh.
God deffinitely doesnt wanna see sinners to die thats why he sent Jesus to die in our place, but Jonah selfishly wants the people of Niniveh to be destroyed.
Jonah has God's word but he doesnt have God's heart because he wants to see the people of Niniveh to be destroyed.
When i ponder about the kingdom of God, I wonder whether my attitude is the same as Jonah. I wonder whether i pick the people i want to share the gospel with, whether i love my group of friends too much and dislikes other people, whether the kingdom of god for me is limited to certain people only, whether i have an unwilling hearts like jonah and or whether i am running away from my responsibilities as a christians.
When it comes to the gospel, it is available diffinitely to all people not just my friends or those who i pick.
Are you sharing the gospel to build your own kingdom (that is to build up your own pride) or to build God's kingdom (that is to be God's centered) ???
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