Selfishness

Jonah 1:1-3 ESV
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”  But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”

Jonah was a prophet of God, he did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew if they repented of their sins, God would spare them. Jonah did not want them spared, he wanted them wiped off the face of the earth because they were a cruel enemy of Israel.

So foolishly Jonah ran from God. Eventually Jonah did go to Nineveh and he did preach for them to repent, and they did. Jonah was angry that God forgave them. We would call his 3 day message as a great revival but Jonah wanted them judged for their past wickedness.

What Jonah did not know is that God saved Nineveh from the king to the children. And through this salvation they were no longer enemies of Israel. It really was a win win but Jonah saw it as a tragedy.

When we pass judgement on someone or a group of people, we are the ones actually in the wrong. We know the attitude that we are supposed to have even toward our so called enemies. It may not seem fair by worldly standards, but we as God’s children, we are not supposed to hold the standards of the world but the standards of God.

Prayer:
Father, teach me to not be judgemental or to condemn. As Your Son said, I cannot judge, so I won’t be judged.  For with the judgment I pronounce, that same judgement will be used against me. (Matthew 7:1-2)