Today's Reading:
Jonah 1,2,3,4; 2 Timothy 2
I've added an extra section after my daily devotions. I call it "Personally Speaking" (or "PS" for short) where I share my personal thoughts on what's happening in the world and the Church.
Scripture
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you”… So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. (Jonah 1:12,15)
Observation
Sounds like drastic measures; nevertheless, it worked! Otherwise, the whole ship would have gone down with innocent people aboard. When leaders disobey or when leaders are corrupt, people around them suffer the consequences. Since Jonah would not comply through internal corrections, He’s thrown overboard so he’ll comply through consequences.
Chapter 2 tells us when Jonah was in the stomach of this great fish, he prayed and cried, “I called from out of my distress to the Lord and He answered me.” God will if you cry out to Him, even though it may be from a puddle of bile.
Application
I have experienced that. I remember a season when I was put aside. It wasn’t any fun. However, it was then that I corrected back to the things I strayed from, the principles that were once at the very core of my life.
- My undistracted devotion to God and God alone.
- To be content with being a man of God even though unnoticed by man.
- To develop my inner-man by laying aside any last vestige of the “tyranny of image.”
- To shepherd others with a genuine heart and no other motive.
- To give generously in order to stay free of the god of mammon.
A leader is forged in serving … or he will be forged in suffering.
The choice is ours. Many will spend the rest of their lives on a ship to Tarshish — We look for the most economical fares and the most comfortable cabins. We can even become involved in the most lucrative businesses aboard the ship. I can even be the “holy man” on a Tarshish-bound journey, but I will not be forged into a biblical leader. Only obedience will do that. If I should board the wrong ship, and should I be thrown overboard, I will not grumble. I will fall on my knees and cry out to my God. And should I find myself swimming up a river of smelly vomit, I will be reminded next time to not take the comfortable route. I must take the route He has set before me.
Prayer
Father, I choose to be forged through obedience rather than through whale’s bellies. But, if You ever throw me overboard for a season, may I find myself not on my back … but on my knees.
Do you want to know what’s worse than doing the right things poorly? It’s doing the wrong thing excellently. We can choose to run our own course rather than God’s. We can even excel there, but it’s still the wrong course! I can compromise God’s design, be cunning in business, and make boat-loads of money. I can ignore God’s commands, live immorally, and still have a life of partying and friends, but in the end, I will be disqualified. What’s more important than what my buddies might say at my funeral? It is what God will say! Nice eulogies are useless if they are only being spoken by other Tarshish-bound shipmates.
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith…”
-Heb. 12:1,2
More resources like this...
What Matters Most
I have sat with many who have come to the final moments of their life on earth. In those precious concluding moments, the unimportant fades and only that, which is vital, remains. And without fail, their greatest treasure? Healthy relationships. And their greatest pain? Unresolved or broken ones.
A Risky Passage
God freed us to serve the Lord no longer from fear but from our hearts. He wants my serving to come from me looking at the cross, not from looking over my shoulder. I serve not because we have a penal system in place, but because I have a heart that has been transformed by His grace.
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