I love it when I learn something new and mind-blowing at church. Our pastor opened the sermon with an account from the Old Testament book of 2 Kings, about a prophet who was somewhat of a national hero in his country.
God had instructed this prophet to go to the king of Israel and tell the king to take back land which had previously belonged to Israel, but had been since overrun by enemies. The king followed the prophet’s instructions from God … and the boundaries of Israel were restored.
(Sound a bit like our current world we are living in?? … territorial disputes over the land of Israel.)
Who was this prophet?? I love the book of 2 Kings … it’s one of my favorite books in the Bible. I am not familiar with this prophet. Who could this prophet be??
Here is the account from 2 Kings 14:23-25:
“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel become king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. … He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah (Dead Sea), in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.”
No!! Surely that can’t be the same Jonah!?! The bad Jonah?? … the Jonah who disobeyed and ran away from God’s instructions. The Jonah who preached and saw massive revival of thousands of people turning away from their sin and turning to God … then had a horrible bad attitude because he didn’t want people to be saved.
Jonah 1:1 – “The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai … “
It’s the same Jonah!
Have you ever heard that Jonah did anything that was right? Have you ever heard that Jonah served God obediently?? I haven’t.
I have only ever viewed Jonah as a very bad example of what not to do. Do not be like Jonah!
After all … an entire book of the Bible was written to us to teach us how not to be like Jonah.
People are watching your life. What are they seeing??
To be sure, we all have our own faults, flaws, and failures … we all understand this about each other. But when people see your life, do they see an example to follow?? … or an example to avoid!
In my own life, there are a couple of people whom I make an intentional deliberate effort not to be like!
There are also several people whose example I admire greatly! I have the highest respect for these very special people … and I strive diligently to be like them! Their love for others is amazing! Their kindness and joy is contagious. I want to be like that! I want to love others like that! I want to be kind and joyful like that!
The prophet Jonah did some good things. He obeyed God. He was somewhat of a national hero in his country for instructing the king to retore the borders … and then the nation experienced success in conquest.
But the only thing Jonah is remembered for is what not to be like!
I chose as the background image for this blog post a photo which I took of the moon two nights ago. The moon was so big and beautiful, glowing brilliantly in the night sky! It was absolutely captivating!
The moon does not emit any light of its own. The moon simply reflects the light of the sun.
In the same way, if we love and follow Jesus Christ, we too are like the moon … we are to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to our dark world.
But the photo I took of the moon is ruined. I didn’t hold my phone still enough when I snapped the photo. So the beautiful image is streaked and blurred.
When people look at our life … what do they see?? Do they see the light of Jesus glowing beautifully and brilliantly through our life?? Or is the light of Jesus streaked and blurred and ruined … by our own bad example??
Is your life an example to follow?? … or an example to avoid!
