Day 172/365- Jonah 4:5

"For the City"

Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. (Jonah 4:5 NLT)

You can't outrun God. Just ask Jonah. Better yet, ask the fish that swallowed Jonah. Jonah, the prophet, ran from prophesying. He refused to go to an enemy nation to declare God's coming judgment. And God went after him. Finally, Jonah goes to Ninevah & delivers his short message of God's coming judgment. The whole city repents. Amazing! Surely this traveling preacher must be thrilled?! Not quite.

Jonah 4:5 says, "Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city." Instead of being thrilled about the mercy of God he resented it. Forgetting what mercy God had given him, he refused to see it extended to others. And so, instead of staying in the city he went outside of it, hoping God might change his mind & destroy it after all. But the people turn & so does God. He does not carry out the destruction he promised.

I believe Jonah represents the majority of Christians in the church in America today. We would rather sit outside of the city than be inside. We would rather "wait & see" what will become of it than engage it. We would rather be like Jonah on the boat to Tarshish & sleep through the chaos that is our culture than run into it with the gospel! The only people that can be agents of change are asleep & oblivious (and possibly even running) to God's true heart for them.

This must change! We must change. We must be a people FOR the city & not OUTSIDE the city. We cannot be incarnational from the outside, we must enter the culture. What sense would it have made for Jesus to wait & see from heaven what would be of us? As if we could save ourselves! No! He had to come & engage the chaos & die for us. So, we also must be willing to run into our city to see it impacted with the gospel. If we don't go, who will?

Darrin Patrick & Matt Carter have written a new book about this very thing. I recommend it to you. It's called, "For the City."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0310330076