Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is life changing!
Realizing there is a God who loves you greatly, coming into freedom from the guilt and condemnation of your past, gaining the ability to love others, and having the realization that your life has purpose. Jesus is the source of these, and many other amazing things!
It is so remarkable what Jesus does to people who follow him that it’s actually noticeable to others. Jesus tells us…
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16)
Spotlight or candlelight
Letting our light shine before men is easy when we first come into life with Jesus, but something happens over time that causes our light to shine differently. The process looks something like this…
1) Become a follower of Christ
2) Become part of church life
3) Become part of the Christian culture
4) Become Jonah
Becoming like Jonah???
After being a part of the Christian culture for a few years, like Jonah we begin to develop a distain for those outside. Like Jonah, we view adversarially people who don’t believe in God the way we do. We want nothing to do with them, and love to blame them for the moral decline of our culture. We even have a secret delight thinking about how God will one day punish all those sinners.
When God saw that the people had repented, he changed his mind and did not destroy them. This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry…The LORD God arranged for a leafy plant to grow and spread its leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But God arranged for a worm that ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And the sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed. Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!” Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jonah 3:10–4:1, 6-11
The people of Nineveh turned to God
They cried out to God, but Jonah complained about not having shade over his head and being uncomfortable. We are like Jonah when we complain about how God is not providing what we want, and grow numb to the fact that people all around us are in desperate need of the love and grace of Jesus.
We need to have the Holy Spirit melt away those hardened edges around our lives, and re-sensitize us to others and how great God’s love for them is. We need to have our lives shine as lights that attract and help, rather than blind people, spotlighting their failures. Less like Jonah, more like Jesus.
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