I hear ya...

3.22.13

Jonah 3:4-5

"Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.'  The Ninevites believed God..."

One of the hardest things as we grow in our faith is to know what God wants us to be doing.  In one respect it could be easily said that God wants us to love him and make disciples of the nations.  In other words God wants us to make our lives an offering to Him.  He wants us to love others so they experience the same love and grace that we have experienced through our relationship with Jesus.

In this line of thinking I hear people ask the question how do I know if I am doing what God wants me to be doing?  In one sense you can answer that question by living out the great commission found in the book of Matthew.  Love Jesus and make disciples of the nations, with the confidence that God is with you to the end of the age.

As we try to live out the Great Commission we still have a tendency to ask, am I doing the right thing?  Is my life modeling what Jesus wants?  It can be hard because life gets busy, and we want to know is our life modeling the grace that Jesus offers us?  Do our actions and life display what our heart desires, people knowing Jesus?

I think a great place to start is what we see in the book of Jonah.  It's cool because the book of Jonah is very short but in it's four quick chapters it contains a lot about God's calling in our lives and how we can follow that calling.

Jonah is called by God to go to Nineveh and tell the Ninevites about Him.  At first Jonah refuses and goes the opposite way, that is where we hear about Jonah and the three days in a big fish.  After that Jonah goes to Nineveh and verse four of chapter three says Jonah finally went to Nineveh and began to tell people what God had told Him.  This is where we see something interesting happen.  Verse five tells us that the Ninevites believed GOD.

The scripture could have said that Jonah spoke and the people believed what Jonah had to say, but it doesn't it says they believed God.  As Jonah listened to God and did what he called him to do, the Ninevites believed that the words were truly from God.  Eventually the entire city of Nineveh began to follow God.

When we want to know if our lives are truly displaying what God has called us to do then that is a good thought to start with.  Are our lives pointing people back to Jesus and His grace?  As people hear us and see how we're living, will people stop and believe God's word or will it point back to us?  Jonah followed God's call and the people believed God not him.  There is a lot of power in that thought.

My encouragement to you is to stay rooted in God's word, spend time in prayer, surround yourself with folks who will spur you on towards love and good deeds.  If you are trying to point people in the direction of Jesus, start by asking yourself, do the words that I speak and the way I live my life point people to a savior or to me?

Last thought, you're not always going to be perfect.  This idea is not about being perfect, but rather a desire to strive for excellence in all that we do and in living our God's call in our lives.  There will always be grace for where we fall short, but we should always strive to grow closer to God and match up to His calling and word.

Thought question:  Does the way I live my life point people back to God our me?  What can I do to draw closer to God's call for my life?