Author: Brian Burdett

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” – Jonah 3:10

There’s a widespread myth in our culture about God, a myth based in deep ignorance about the Old Testament. This myth claims that in Old Testament times, God was always angry, always smiting, and acted in a manner inconsistent with the message of grace and love found in the New Testament. The pervasiveness of this myth, even within churches, can make the Old Testament a stumbling block to faith.

This myth is not true! This misunderstanding of God’s nature is grounded in three things: failure to actually read the Old Testament thoughtfully, failure to understand the extremely long time periods addressed in the Old Testament (decades and centuries rather than months and years), and failure to understand how truly vile and awful sin is.

The repentance and restoration of Ninevah described in Jonah is a wonderful example of God’s consistent mercy. The Assyrians were a vicious, cruel, pagan people who’d done terrible things to numerous peoples, including the people of God. When God sent Jonah to Ninevah to prophesy its coming destruction, they fully and completely deserved it.

Yet, when they heard that message, they responded immediately with sorrow and repentance. They didn’t presume to deserve mercy and didn’t expect to receive any. Nonetheless, they humbled themselves in the hope that perhaps they might receive mercy. Because God is fundamentally merciful and gracious, always has been and always will be, loving all people created in His image and desiring to restore and reconcile all peoples, God showed them mercy. In this, He pointed forward to His greatest mercy – the willing sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross to restore and reconcile all who believe in Him. God’s mercy and grace shine through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, if we’re careful to actually read it. Thankfully, He has not changed!

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” – Romans 1:20

For all of time, God has revealed Himself to those willing to look. While it’s true that His Scripture hasn’t always been widely available (and still isn’t in many parts of the world), all of creation speaks of its Creator. Though creation can’t teach us how to be saved and reconciled to God, we can certainly learn enough about the Creator, His nature, and His will to recognize our own shortcomings.

We see His love of beauty in the snow-capped mountains, golden sunrises, and fiery sunsets. We see His immense power in the rolling and crashing of the mighty seas. We see His orderliness in the regular movement of the stars across the sky throughout the year. We see His deep and loving attention to detail in the miraculous cycle of conception, birth, life, growth, and death. We see His passion for life in the way the very properties of this world are ordered to promote life. We see His creativity in the wondrous variety of colors and shapes of living things.

The world around us can teach us much about Creator God. In that teaching, there’s more than enough information for us to know that we each fall short of God’s nature and will. Thus, there is no one alive without excuse for their disobedience to God’s fundamental goodness, kindness, orderliness, and love for life. We are without excuse and so can and will be justly held accountable for our sins and shortcomings. We need a solution to this or else there is no hope when we meet our Creator! We cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior. Who is that Savior? Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” – Romans 1:16

No matter what happened to Paul, he wasn’t going to be embarrassed or ashamed about what he preached. Mobs didn’t intimidate him. Arrests and beatings wouldn’t silence him. Near-death experiences couldn’t keep him quiet. Paul knew the profound truth and life-giving importance of what he proclaimed: the gospel.

Paul preached the good news of Jesus Christ: that the innocent Son of God sacrificed Himself on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins, dying and rising from death, so to that all who believe in Him are forgiven for our sins, reconciled to God, saved, adopted, beloved, Spirit-filled, and transformed. There is no better or more urgent and important news for every person on earth to hear. So Paul didn’t care who or what opposed him and would put up with whatever he had to endure to keep sharing the gospel.

In a world full of schemes to save ourselves, the gospel is the only power that truly saves. For everyone of every nation, race, ethnicity, and prior religious background who have embraced it, the gospel is God’s saving power. We must be similarly unashamed. As followers of Jesus, we too must be willing to be doubted, questioned, hated, embarrassed, opposed, silenced, ridiculed, rejected, and persecuted for the sake of the gospel. Because we believe, we must speak, and what we must speak is the gospel. No matter the cost.

“Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’” – Acts 27:22-24

The promises of God are trustworthy and true, even in hopeless situations! The passengers and crew of Paul’s ship had to be in total despair. They had battered and driven off course for two weeks by relentless storms. They were hungry, exhausted, afraid, and lost. However, because God still had important ministry work for Paul to do, He graciously planned to spare the lives of all the unbelievers on board.

If you’re a believer in Jesus, then God has good and important work prepared for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). Have confidence that God will gift you, walk with you, and sustain you in that work until it is accomplished. Even in the face of a seemingly total disaster, God’s purpose for you will not fail! In His faithfulness, God’s grace and mercy may even extend to unbelievers around you as an opportunity to share the hope and truth of Jesus Christ.

At some point in your life, you may well face a hopeless situation like Paul. However, if the work God appointed for you to do personally isn’t finished, you can trust that He will carry you through the situation, so that He may be glorified. Of course, there will come a day for each of us when our work is done. In that case, God’s deliverance will be even better and look completely different. At that time, He will welcome us into His eternal presence in glory. Well done, good and faithful servant!

“And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.'” – Acts 26:24

The good news is that if people start to think you’re crazy for loving and sharing Jesus, you’re in good company! Throughout history, people outside the church and even inside it have decried the “enthusiasm” of those whose lives have been profoundly transformed by the Spirit of Christ. Know that as you fall ever more deeply in love with Jesus, some will celebrate but others will question and mock. That’s OK – Christ’s love is bigger, better, and more important than the opinions of the world.

The Roman governor thought Paul was nuts for proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus, but Paul knew better. Paul knew Jesus and Jesus knew Paul. Therefore, there was no length to which Paul wouldn’t go to spread the good news and love of Jesus Christ. Likewise, we mustn’t be afraid to be viewed as strange or even crazy for Jesus Christ! We don’t need to be respected in society – we just need to follow Jesus wherever He leads,

We should expect people to question why we would change our lives and habits, sacrifice our time and energy, and give of everything we have to advance God’s Kingdom. Jesus predicted it. Paul lived it. As you grow in Christ, you’ll likely experience it, too. That’s OK – the Kingdom of God and the joy of the Lord are worth it!