We're All the Same

Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live." But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."  Jonah 4:5-9

Man, Jonah has a lot of gall, don't you think?  God asks Jonah what right he has to be angry, and Jonah's like, "I have every right!"  Wah wah wah.

I look at this story and think really negatively about Jonah.  How could he go to Ninevah and preach about God's love, mercy, and forgiveness, and then go outside the city and wait to see God's punishment?  Did he think God was lying?  Did he think God would forgive, but still punish?

To think that Jonah wanted to die because of all this!  My goodness!  I can't get over it!

We can look through Biblical history and see examples of this over and over.  Adam and Eve.  They knew God better than any of us can imagine . . . and still turned away.  King David, a man after God's own heart, still placed his own selfish desires on the throne, instead of God.

Hmmmm . . . that sounds familiar.  Oh yes, that would be me.  Why do I think that the men and women of the Old Testament had a better opportunity to know God than I do?  Why am I amazed that they would sin, yet want my own sin swept under the rug?

The point is, we all whine.  We all mess up.  We all act foolishly.  We are all the same at the foot of the cross.  Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  All.  Every last one of us.

So who are we to judge?   Let's make this real.  When someone has a bad attitude at church, what's your response?  Do you deal with them harshly in return?  Or do you remember that you've been there yourself?  When there are personality conflicts on the softball team, do you add fuel to the fire, and then go out for pizza and trash the others?  Or are you like a soothing balm?  Would you rather be like Jonah?  Or would you rather be like Paul, Silas and Timothy at the Thessalonian church:   "...but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.  Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.  (1 Thessalonians 2:7-9)

When is God's word going to become real to us?  We are to be imitators of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), not of the world.  Can He be any clearer with us?