Character of Faith: Jonah (Sermon)
He could have let Jonah die a slow painful death being digested by a giant fish. Now aren’t you glad that God shows mercy to Jonah? I know I am. Because I need the sort of God who lovingly pursues me. I need the sort of God who will be merciful towards me. In spite of Jonah’s disobedience, God uses this situation to make His name great. God could have used someone else to witness to the Ninevites but God’s actions here would seem to indicate that God desires Jonah. This is good news. Even if we give up on ourselves, God doesn’t give up on us.
When you set your alarm for the morning, you intend to sleep soundly through the night so that when you awaken to your alarm, you are rested and ready to tackle a new day. However, you’re awaken by an unusual culprit: whether it be the garbage truck making short work of the dumpster outside your apartment, a neighbor’s dog who is looking to scare a squirrel witless or a strange dream that causes you to wake up in a cold sweat, you find your sleep disrupted by an unexpected wake up call.
You’ll hear preachers talk about love and how God loves us. But what is love? I wonder if as Christians we would be happier, more joyful and more at peace if we understood what love really is. We’re told that God is love. We’re told that we’re supposed to love one another as Christ loved us. If you’re like me, you might be asking, does that mean I should die on a cross like He did?
In it, C.S. Lewis paints a story about a bunch of people who are awaiting a bus in the dismal town of hell that will take them to the plains of heaven. Once arriving in a world more real then our own, these people find that the grass hurts their feet, and that they appear as shadowy ghosts and that the inhabitants of heaven are so bright and jovial that many of these ghostly visitors refuse to give up their selfish grudges, twisted loves, self righteousness and bitterness from their past to enjoy eternal joy. Here are some of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the book…