Devotional:

STAND WITH THE FORGIVEN OR DESPISE GOD’S GRACE

Jonah, a man of God, in fact a prophet of God was commanded to go preach in Nineveh to a people he felt should be judged by God. The people of Nineveh were a cruel, vicious, violent people deeply rooted and involved in every kind of sin. However, the Lord desired to show His love for all people through the preaching of Jonah. Jonah’s hatred for these people was so great that he ran away from God trying to escape by ship. The Lord sent a storm after Jonah so fierce that the sailors on board threw him overboard in order to save their own lives. God sent a fish to swallow Jonah, from the belly of the fish Jonah cried out in prayer for God’s mercy, and the Lord graciously granted it to him. The fish spit Jonah out on shore and God sent him to preach to the people of Nineveh. Jonah’s message was simple,

“Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown!”

The people believed God and repented…

When God saw their works, that they repented and turned from their evil way; God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry.

So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD,

Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive, for it is better for me to die than to live!” (Jonah 3:10-4:3)

Wow! I think it is so awesome that we serve a God who delights in deliverance, abounding in grace and mercy, and that He is not willing that any should perish, but that we all would confess our sins and repent unto salvation. All through Scripture we see God’s favor and grace upon the guilty who have repented and even upon those who did not repent until after being blessed with His grace, mercy, healing or deliverance. The grace of God is so awesome that not all of the people who Jesus healed believed He was God in the flesh. In fact some of those same people He healed were in the crowd shouting “Crucify Him!”

I expect an unforgiving attitude from the unsaved people of the world, but

Jonah is a picture of an unforgiving, loveless, self righteous believer in Christ. God’s nature is the real reason for Jonah’s anger. Look at the reasons why he was upset;

“I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm”.

When sinful disobedience found Jonah in the belly of the fish, he cried out in prayer for grace and mercy. The Lord granted him his request; however, when God’s unfailing love was showered upon the people of Nineveh Jonah got mad, seeming to forget he had received the same grace. This attitude among believers is one of the main reasons the body of Christ is so divided. Like Jonah many in the body of Christ would rather die than love a brother who has fallen and repented.

The Lord knows everything about us, that we’re all guilty of sin; yet, He still stands with us without shame making intercessions in love, because He paid the penalty in full for our forgiveness.

Along with our individual gifts, the Lord has also given to us the body of Christ as a gift that we may comfort, restore, and stand with one another in love and gentleness. The Lord Himself chose the foolish, despised, and base sinners of the world for salvation in order to put to shame the self righteous and the mighty.

Jesus said,

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”

(Jn. 15:12)

Do you have the love to stand with the forgiven, or has self righteousness

Caused you to despise God’s grace?

Daryl Kyle