We have begun to move forward from our journey of draw near…and although it is our heart that each of you would continue to draw near to God, we then have to ask ourselves the question…As we are continuing to draw near to God, how would He have us live? How would He have us speak? What would He command of us? How would He send us forward?
I think a lot of these questions we are hoping to answer and pursue over this next three weeks as we look at the life of Jonah. Jonah is given a command from God that within a moment’s notice he turns and runs away from. God commands him to go to a hard group of people…a group that we would only know how to describe as the worst of sinners & really scary dudes. But within our own realm of influence, who we encounter day to day, even those in our surrounding neighborhoods and families, we all face “scary dudes.” Mostly I think it just stems from our own unwillingness to get comfortable and really love the way Christ calls us to love. We love by sharing; we love by PROCLAIMING AND DEMONSTRATING the gospel to those around us.
So as we think about this and we realize we are all called to “go”, the question remains will we obey or will we run? I think the answer to this question really can help us search our heart with how much we have truly allowed God’s grace to transform our hearts and give us a love for the lost and really “bad dudes”. In the book “The Radical Reformission” I am reading right now the author Mark Driscoll talks about this in relation to looking at Jonah’s life. He says…
And Jonah leaves us to ponder who we would be if God had stopped running after us and simply left us to ourselves. In what ways are we running from God’s call to bring the gospel to others? What will repentance look like for us? What could happen if God captured the hearts of people in our town because you pointed them to Him? What if the heart God’s people had for their cities was like Jesus’ heart for Jerusalem instead of Jonah’s heart for Nineveh? (pg. 107)
This pretty much cuts my heart open because I realize I don’t break for the lost in my town. I don’t seek to proclaim and demonstrate who Christ is to those around me when God calls me to everyday. Think for a minute about how much you run & draw near to Jesus…if it’s a lot, and I hope it is, now think about the people who don’t have that hope, peace, contentment, security and love because they don’t know the good news.
Now, as you move forward in continuing to abide in God, I pray that you would move forward in pursuing others in the name of Christ and sharing His love & grace with them. I pray that unlike Jonah you would say “yes” to the command of God as he calls you to move forward & live as His ambassador.
~Bold thoughts from a loud woman
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