Are you decent?
“Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” –Jonah 1:2
Jonah was a prophet of God. As a prophet he undoubtedly regarded the Ninevites as inferior people. They did not serve God, nor honor Him in any way; so when God told Jonah to go the city and preach repentance Jonah was hesitant, to say the least. Jonah tried to “flee from the presence of the Lord.” I can tell you from experience that that is a dumb thing to do because there is nowhere we can go where has not already been. I think about the Ray Stevens Christmas song, “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”. It’s really a funny song. In the song Ray say’s about Santa Claus, “He’s everywhere, He’s everywhere.” That’s the way God is!!! David reminds us in Psalm 139 that God is everywhere we go; in life or in death. God is always near!
Jonah tried to hop a ship, so that he could get away from God; but when God caused a huge storm then the men on the ship throw Jonah overboard to try and save themselves. A giant fish, possibly a whale, swallows Jonah, but does not eat him. Jonah is still alive in the belly of the fish. Can you imagine what it smelled like? A favorite song of mine says that God used Jonah as Alka-Seltzer because after Jonah spent three days and nights in the fish the fish vomited Jonah up on the beach. After Jonah had time to reflect on what God had asked him to do I guess he realized that it wasn’t an outlandish request. Jonah did not want to go to the Ninevites because he felt some kind of superiority complex, but Jesus left His throne in heaven to come to earth, and walked among sin-filled mortals. If anybody deserved to have a superiority complex it was Jesus not us sinful humans.
I was reading today a book by Max Lucado, one of my favorite authors, and he was talking about Jeffrey Dahmer. Some people may not know who Jeffrey Dahmer is/was, but he was a serial killer from Milwaukee. Dahmer was convicted of killing 17 people after police found body parts in his home. Dahmer not only killed people, but he also ate human flesh. That makes my skin crawl just thinking about it; cannibalism is an affront to decent people everywhere. Jeffrey Dahmer was stabbed, and he died in prison; but a few years before his death Dahmer repented of his sins, and asked Jesus to save him. Jesus reached down with the same hand of grace that saved us and brought this murdering cannibal into the fold.
As a human being my first reaction is like the one that Jonah gave when God asked him to go to the Ninevites. My mind screams out, NO, GOD! HOW CAN YOU SAVE A MAN LIKE THIS? However, when I transform my mind, and take on the mind of Christ I see no difference in the horrors that Dahmer did, and the sins that I have committed because Jesus Christ shed His blood to cover us all.
As human beings we like to compare ourselves to people like Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler or Charles Manson because they make us look good; we haven’t done near the things that they did. However, no matter how clean we think our soul is the prophet Isaiah reminds us in Isaiah 64:6 that our righteousness is like a filthy rag before God. God does not, and will not compare us to any other human being, living or dead. He will however compare us to His Son, Jesus Christ.
“For by one offering He (Jesus) has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” –Hebrews 10:14(Emphasis mine)
Father, I thank You for not comparing my righteousness to other men, but my righteousness is covered by the blood of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Yes, You Can Ministry 
