Committed to Christ, Part 2

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”  Jonah 1:1-3

“Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, ‘How could you do this?’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. So they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.’ However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. Then they called on the Lord and said, ‘We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.’ So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.”  Jonah 1:10-17

Is there an unresolved issue which keeps surfacing when you attempt to relate to God? Is there some unsurrendered desire? Some “secret” or “hidden” sin which you think you are hiding from God? Is there some relationship which needs to be mended? Or severed? Some want or wish which you just won’t release?

Let go of that hindrance. In some cases you may have to cut the bonds of affection and pleasure. Some may find it too painful to take this step. No one promised that it would be easy or painless, but the sustaining comfort and assurance of God’s love and grace are applied to the wounds of those who choose to release all for Him.

You may feel today that you just can’t release the things that are so dear. You realize they stand in the way of your availability to God, but you can’t bring yourself to deny them. My challenge to you is to look at those things in the light of eternity and weigh their value.

Isn’t it amazing how worthless our treasures are when compared to the immensity of God’s unlimited resources of love, mercy, justice, and all the other qualities of God’s character? The challenge: God is worthy of our all. Does He have it?

“But Jonah ran away from the Lord.” Jonah put feet to what we often do in heart: run from God.