The Attitude of Jonah

-Bill Petite

I have read through the book of Jonah at least 40 times in my daily read of the Bible in a year. I have always recognized Jonah’s misguided empathy for a plant and his neglect for compassion for the lost souls of Ninevah. He initially ran from God when sent to Ninevah to warn the people there if they didn’t repent God would destroy the city. After a brief visit to the belly of a big fish, (this was not a whale) he goes to Ninevah and warns the people there and they repent. This angers Jonah and he goes out of the city and God raises up a plant to provide shade for Jonah. But the next morning, God sends a worm to eat at the stem of the plant and it withers and dies. Jonah became furious and asks to die.

 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.  So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”    Jonah 4:1-3

At this point, Jonah goes outside of the city and waits.

 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jonah 4:9-11

Jonah cared more about a plant than he did about the lost lives of 120,000 people who God would have destroyed along with the city had they not repented. He was so angry he asks God to take his life. Well, guess what? That thinking still exists today among Christians. They have a really bad habit of remembering what Jesus did for them. Jesus has forgiven those of us who have been saved for some very nasty and evil sins which we are guilty of in our past lives. But He not only forgives us for our past sin but also for our current and future sin. But for those who have the same attitude as Jonah, they can’t seem to remember that.

 Allow me to give you a fictional account of what this might look like.

Jim was a terrible husband and father before he was saved. He drank too much and even cheated on his wife a few times. He never spent time with his three children who were young and needed his attention as a father. He spent more time with his friends than with his family. He had a good paying job and was able to support his family financially but was never there with them or when they needed him. He was always with the boys. When he was home, he was either looking at his laptop or watching a ball game on TV. He was a big “fan boy” and enjoyed commenting on social media about it. He thought of himself as an expert when it came to commenting on sports but the truth was, he wasn’t.

One day at work, a Christian man in his work area began to talk to him and the subject eventually turned to Jesus. The words that the Christian said seemed to dig right into Jim’s heart. Jim began to realize what a terrible husband and father he had been. When the Christian finished sharing the gospel with Jim, he asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus into his life and Jim immediately said he did. So, on that day at work, Jim was saved. But that’s not the end of the story; A lot of Jim’s attitude had not changed. Oh yeah, he did become a better husband and father but when it came to sharing his faith with a nonbeliever, he simply didn’t want to.

Jim was definitely saved; he was taking his family to church, he read his Bible sometimes and he even prayed sometimes. Jim had the attitude which a lot of Christians have; I’m saved, I have my fire insurance but don’t bother me with that evangelism stuff. I got mine and the other losers can get theirs from someone else.

That sounds pretty rough coming from someone who says they are saved. But many Christians have this type of attitude when it comes to sharing the gospel with nonbelievers. They simply don’t want to be bothered with telling people about Jesus. They just want to bump along through their life and not be bothered. They slip into church just as the service is starting and they sit in the back and when it ends, they are out the door before the pastor is finished with his closing prayer. This is not an exaggeration; I have witnessed it myself. And yes, the fictional account of Jim might be a bit extreme but there are Christians who fit this mold.

Many Christians get caught up in the world outside of the church and find themselves involved not only in worldly activities but also in worldly attitudes.

Want to know what I mean by that? Just read the comments following a story or article on any news site. Regardless if it is news, a special interests feel good story or sports. The comments following it display for all to see that the attitudes of people in society today are hateful, nasty and in full on attack mode. This country is full of hate and abusive attitudes toward one another. And it is obvious that the world of politics is a heavy influence concerning this. I read today the comments following a sports story where men were arguing back and forth over the meaning of a single word! And the comments weren’t pleasant, they were said in an attack mode and intended to make each other look stupid and less than themselves. How silly! You want to scream out, “You are arguing over the meaning of a word when you need to recognize your sin and know if you don’t repent, you are going to hell where that word will be absolutely meaningless!”

When Christians find themselves falling into this trap and joining in on this nonsense, they need to begin to pray and ask God to bring them back where He wants them. They must have a wake-up call whether it’s being rebuked by another believer or an event that wakes them back to Christian reality.

 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.    James 4:4

No Christian should want this in their life. What Christian would want to be an enemy of God. Yes, when you are saved, you are saved for eternity and God continues to forgive us but that Christian might be smelling like smoke as he/she squeezes into heaven. Alright, no one squeezes into heaven smelling like smoke but you should get the idea. As Christians, we should all have a desire to tell others about Jesus. We should want to tell others what Jesus has done in our life and how He saved us. We should never have the selfish attitude of I got mine so the rest can go find theirs. It doesn’t work that way; we all had to be told about Jesus and His gospel. We don’t find Jesus; He saves us and as someone shares the gospel with us, the Holy Spirit draws us closer to God and eventually, we understand and the Holy Spirit awakens our spirit and we accept Jesus into our lives.

That’s the gospel in a nutshell but easy enough to understand. As a Christian, we should never have the attitude which Jonah had. That is basically the attitude of a nonbeliever and a Christian should never think that way.

If you are wronged, you should have the attitude of forgiveness toward the person. But I have heard far too many Christians say, “I will never forgive him/her!”

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13

Paul in writing this does not say you might consider forgiving others; he says you must forgive others. And of course, Paul was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or God. That’s an imperative. What’s an imperative? Absolutely necessary or required; something that must be done. So, it’s not a suggestion, it is a command. So, when a Christian refuses to forgive someone, they are acting in disobedience to God. That’s not where I want to be.

So again, don’t adopt the attitude of the world around us. Don’t have more compassion for a worldly object than a lost soul. Read and study the Bible and know God better and understand how He wants us to live as a Christian. It’s sad but far too many Christians today do not live this way. Don’t be one of them.