Life Lessons From Jonah; Take Note of These 3!

I recently learnt 3 life lessons from Jonah. For those who are not familiar with the story of Jonah, here goes: Jonah was asked by God to go and preach in Nineveh but he refused. Not because he was afraid or timid, but because he wanted them destroyed! He didn’t want God to give them a chance to repent. 

This story is relatable because we feel like some people don’t deserve God’s goodness, or even ours sometimes. In our minds, we want to remind Him of how evil and undeserving they are, yet we see that God loves, and wants us to love people. 

In the light of this, here are 3 life lessons from Jonah:

1. We have a good God

We see a God that wants people to be better. Before we look at the fact that God wanted to “punish” them, I think this story first reveals God’s hatred for evil and wickedness. God wouldn’t be good if He didn’t hate evil and wickedness, and in spite of their evil, He stretches out His hand in love, giving them an opportunity to repent. This reveals God’s heart!  God is good, kind, compassionate, and hates evil. 

See Jonah’s complaint ‘He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’ (Jonah 4:2 NIV) 

2. We learn to have God’s disposition

To forgive and love as the Bible tells us to. Forgiveness is about you first, and regardless of the offender, or how dark a past the person has, God’s heart towards them should be your heart towards them. God has instructed us on how to live, and even when people don’t deserve it, God’s commandment doesn’t change.

It is also good to remind ourselves that we did nothing to deserve the forgiveness we freely received from God, which is far greater compared to anything else. 

3. It is a reminder to preach the gospel

Destruction is coming, just like destruction was coming for those in the city of Nineveh. There’s too much at stake to not care about those people without Christ. We have eternal life, and we have the words of eternal life that would save people and give them a chance to repent. Our love for God and love for people He loves should motivate us to preach the gospel. 

Have you read the book of Jonah? What did you learn? Please share with us in the comment section.

You should check out Forgiveness – a ‘Doing’ Word or Forgive and Forget?