Jonah Chapter 4
Revolutionize Pt. 1
Leslie and Lauren are two sisters
that are looking to Jesus and reaching out to those in need, and as a result
they have revolutionized their world. After a life-changing experience at camp,
these girls decided to get serious about changing the lives of those around
them; specifically the homeless lives. So they got an idea to create a ministry
in their church called “H2O: Hope to Others.”
Basically,
people from the church can pay $3 for a paper bag filled with food, water, and
a Gospel tract that they keep in their car. So when they come across a homeless
person they have some way to help them out in a practical manner. The project
has provided these not-really-shy but not-really-outgoing girls with many
opportunities to trust God and step outside of their comfort zones.
But it gets
better. Since they’ve started, they’ve been featured on Oregon’s largest
newspaper, have had calls from other churches wanting to start their own H2O
program, and they have even started a website for people all around the world
to catch the vision and passion. They
have revolutionized their world.
In this
last chapter you will be see how God loved the people of the city of Nineveh so
much that he went to such great lengths to bring a revolution to the city when
His messenger was resisting His will. And not only that, but how He is on a mission to bring a revolution to
your world as well.
It’s in
this chapter that God lowers Himself to actually engage in an argument with
Jonah about His plan and desire to bring a revolution to the city of Nineveh.
It was a silly argument to say the least, but God took him on nonetheless. And
when you read it through, you can’t help but groan a little bit for Jonah.
Like, “Jonah, dude, why are you being so selfish? What’s with all the whining?”
Before we
start judging him again, though, here’s a few reasons why Jonah was living in
self-pity and with a self-absorbed lifestyle. He was not accepting God’s will.
He had forgotten how God had been merciful to Him. And he did not love God or
his neighbor as well as he should have. So yeah, Jonah failed on several lower
levels which led to this emotional breakdown.
But we are
just as self-absorbed, self-pitying, argumentative, and disobedient as Jonah,
aren’t we? Of course, we don’t like to admit it. But God has an incredible
compassion for the people of the world, and thankfully, that involves us. So
once again we see that Jonah’s story is our story. But this is the last chapter
of his. The final phase of his story. And
it’s about creating a revolution.
We’ve said
the city of Nineveh represents the world, and it does. But we’re going to
narrow it down now. Because what it really represents is not just THE world. It
represents YOUR world. Where you live day to day. Your school. Your job. Your
family. Your friends. Those are the people you are called to reach right now.
We’re not talking about when you’re older, when you’re wiser, when you’re
smarter, or when you’ve graduated. We’re talking about right now, you are
called to reach YOUR WORLD.
And the
whole, “I’m too young to do something spectacular.” is a flat-out lie.
Throughout history teenagers have reached their worlds, and they’ve started
revolutions, just like Leslie and Lauren. They created a movement in people
that all pointed back to Jesus Christ. Teenagers throughout history have done
heroic things and many of them have gone unnoticed, and unappreciated, but that
makes them all the more honorable.
Even in the
Bible we have many stories of young teenaged people making big differences.
People like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel, Joseph, Mary, and Ruth.
These are all teenagers who did amazing things for God to revolutionize THEIR
WORLD. It seems like God prefers to use the young, the incapable, the weak, and
the simple to do amazing things.
As a Christian. (young, old, or in between) you are called to abandon
your own personal comfort and to bring a Christian revolution to your own
world.
But why? If
you’re like me, you want to know the why. Not in any sort of disrespectful way.
People just want to know why they are supposed to do things. I’ve always asked
why, and it’s always driven my mom crazy. “James, take the trash out.” “Why,
it’s only half full?” If she was in a good mood I would get an answer, “Because
there is meat rotting in it, that’s why.” And if not I got the answer that
we’ve all heard before. “Because I said so, that’s why!”
It makes me
happy that God doesn’t leave us in the dark. He knows what He is asking is
hard. It’s sacrificial. And sometimes God answers our why questions with,
“Because I’m God, and I said so, that’s why.” But sometimes He answers our
questions. And He has answered this question for us, “Why do I need to sacrifice
my personal comfort to bring a revolution to my world?” In my next three posts,
the last three of this series, I’ll share with you the why and the how of
revolutionizing your world.
