8.29.24

This week we are finishing up our series in the book of Jonah. And what we’re learning this week is how God’s love is far different than we often think it to be. Our self-focused hearts tend to hone in on the personal comfort and peace that God brings. And he does! But his love is also a consuming fire that burns away the ugly dross of our lives to purify us to be more like Jesus.

But it’s also a challenge to “our” loves. When Jonah grumpily conveys that he doesn’t understand the nature of a God who would love like this, God responds to Jonah and essentially says, “Jonah, I don’t understand YOUR love! You have more compassion for the creature comforts of this shady vine than you do for the souls of an entire city!

And with this challenge, God is asking us the look at the various things that WE tend to weep over. God weeps over souls that are lost without him. We weep over a bad day or a challenging circumstance that robs us of our creature comforts.

And it’s just possible that God is messing with one of your vines today. And if he is, it’s not because he’s mean or sadistic. It’s the nature of his love to wrestle our heart’s allegiance from things that can never save us and only temporarily satisfy us, and to rest them fully on his transforming love.

Take note today of the things that your heart “weeps” or “complains” over. If it’s not over the brokenness of the lives around you that are lost without him, then your heart is not resonating with God’s. This book ends in a rather startling way. Because it’s open ended. Did Jonah repent? Did his heart change? We’re left with a cliff hanger. And I believe that’s done on purpose, so that its message would be directed toward us today as much as it was toward Jonah all those years ago.

We are all Jonah. And God is asking each one of us: what are you really living for?