What I Learned from Jonah

Jonah – A VeggieTales Movie was my first VeggieTales episode I ever saw.  It was back when Penny Peach and I first got married, and we knew that we wanted little fruits and veggies of our own, and the idea of cartoons that had godly lessons in them really sounded interesting.  Of course we watched it before we had our little garden, and the thing that impressed me most– especially after watching the commentary disc– was the fact that they didn’t end the story at the Ninevite’s repentance– where most stories end it.

You see, repentance is a great thing, and we shouldn’t overlook it, but this story was about more than just God’s message to Israel’s enemy.  It was also about God’s love, compassion and mercy towards Jonah.

Jonah, you see, responds a lot like us every day.  We know exactly what God wants us to do– it’s in His Word which we all have like 5 copies of (even if two are collecting dust, and one’s the interlinear and the other is in King James which is hard for you to read).  We know His commands, but like Jonah we choose to go the other way, to do the other thing, and then when trials come we know that it’s because we disobeyed, but we’re still reluctant to do the right thing– or we do so because we “have to”.

Jonah really is the Christian’s story.  It’s one of mercy towards us, because we have a mission to share the Gospel, but how many of us are fulfilling this mission where we are every day?

How many of us are ready for the fire and brimstone, because we know that “no one will repent” and even if they do, they’re still bad.  What a sad commentary of Christianity– and what a challenge to us!