The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
Jonah 1:1-3 (NASB)
Jonah ran away from God’s call, a futile action indeed – where could he hide? Jonah was not the last runaway from God; there have been many over the years. Sometimes, we choose to run away from God and not share the gospel with those we meet. God’s Word comes to us daily; will we go for Him?
Sometimes, we allow fear to misdirect us from sharing God’s message with others. This is not unusual, we read of the fear of Ananias to obey his Godly call to go speak to Saul (a known enemy of the new church). Fear is natural to our humanity, and the enemy Satan uses it against us often; the fear of men’s reactions to the shared Good News stands in the way of them hearing God’s truth. We have all done it, including me, but we need to recognise it as an enemy tactic. We need to have faith in the God who goes with us. Those in the world may need a blood transfusion if they are in hospital, but for eternity, they need a Jesus transfusion, which only comes if we point them to Him.
Dear Reader, may we as saved children of God not be fearful – let us be faithful. Go! seek opportunities to share Jesus and save souls from Hell. Gordon’s message was very powerful and touched many folk, including myself – I pray that it challenges you as well today.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Devotional Treasures
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