Jonah
June 30
Jonah 1:1-10
Go tell those people
One day, the Lord spoke to the prophet Jonah and said, “Go to the city of Nineveh and tell the people that I know all about their wicked deeds.”
But Jonah didn’t want to listen. Instead of going to Nineveh, he went to a coastal town called Joppa and boarded a ship going to Spain. When the ship was far out at sea, the Lord sent a great storm. The ship was in danger of sinking and the sailors were terrified. They started throwing the cargo over the side and praying to their gods for help.
Earlier on, Jonah had gone to his cabin and fallen fast asleep. When the captain of the ship found him there, he said, “How can you be sleeping? Get up and pray to your God to save us!”
Meanwhile the sailors were drawing lots to find out who was responsible for the storm. When it became obvious that Jonah was the guilty one, the sailors asked, “Is all this your fault? What are you doing here? Where do you come from?”
Then Jonah told them that he worships the Lord of Heaven, the Creator of land and sea, and that he was running away from the Lord.
Does God care about wicked people too?
God loves us because it is in His nature to love—not because we are good. God is love (1 John 4:16) so we do not need to do things to get Him to love us!
God loves every person on earth so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins so that anyone who believes on Him will not die in sin, but live forever with Him (John 3:16). Romans 5:8 tells us that God loves people even before they believe.
We don’t have to do good deeds for God to love and accept us; all we need to do is believe in Jesus and ask Him to make us clean.
God loves sinful people, but He does not love the bad things they do. That is why He sent people like Jonah to tell them about His Way.
Before Jesus went back to heaven, He told His followers to go all over and tell everyone about God and about the way to heaven (Matthew 28:19-20).
Verse for today
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:31-32
