Good morning! You may notice a bit of tardiness in the devotional this morning. Yes, one more late night change intrudes into the morning routine. Even though a minor change, it still required me to stay up late. Last night we started into the study of Jonah, a short book in the Bible, but full of wisdom. Who among us cannot identify with Jonah? God called him to a mission in a far away city, exactly what many of us feared when giving our lives to Christ, and Jonah fled in the other direction. Last night I said that one of the reasons Jonah fled was fear. Perhaps that was part of it, but it certainly wasn't fear of travel. Jonah went to Joppa and bought passage on a ship to Tarshish. For those of us in the modern world that is now called Spain. In what we would call a small ship, or a large boat, Jonah took a great risk in undertaking a sea voyage of that length. Ships didn't always make it back to port in those days. At times we might fear a thing that is perfectly safe for us in the protection of God, and be unafraid where we should be. Jonah fled from the protection of God, and nearly caused the entire ship to be lost at sea.
The pastor pointed out to us how Jonah's story shows that many might suffer for one man's sin. A family could suffer when one of them disobeys God, a town might suffer from the sexual sin of one man and one woman, and a nation might suffer from the sins of only a part of the population. Sin is that way, it causes ripples of suffering to spread from the center. We should consider this carefully when in danger of falling to temptation. I have not considered it enough, I will confess that right now. Even the heathens decry the selfishness of today, and as Christians we should never be an example of selfish behavior.
Praise God for the power of His grace!
Bucky
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