Good Mornning, wonderful Meetpastordan Readers…while on my morning walk with Cliff and Glenn, I had my headset on and was listening to Chuck Swindoll deliver a message entitled, The Radical Prophet. It was the story of Jonah and his attempt to run away from God when, in fact, his calling was to carry the message of judgement to the wicked city of Nineveh. Jonah’s disgust with the Ninevites and their sinful ways led him to be disobedient to God’s plan, because he was afraid that God might show mercy if they repented. Jonah wanted to see judgement, because, in his mind, that was what they deserved. (Now for those of you who are familiar with this Biblical story, you are probably expecting me to continue writing about the storm at sea, the whale, and Jonah’s expectoration onto dry land, but you’ll have to turn to the Book of Jonah and read that for yourself; its only 3 pages long.) Pastor Swindoll, however, took a different turn and put the spotlight on Jonah’s preconceived thoughts and continued with the theme of racism. It was in this part of the message that I received a revelation, certainly from the Holy Spirit.
Racism is an ugly word. It has a myriad of overtones, and none are good. I believe that hatred is the foundation for the word, and I certainly have no problem finding examples, not only in our history, but also in today’s culture. It’s easy to look at slavery as racism, but what about the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the Holocaust, or, as is so prevalent today, casting that ugly word at anyone who disagrees with “my way of thinking?” In these latter cases, it’s not about race, but actually about how people think and what they believe.
Now let’s add this powerful Scripture to the mix, Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good, pleasing and perfect His will really is.” Transformation is the goal of “becoming a Christian.”
God’s plan is, first and foremost, that we accept His Gift of Grace. If we do that, at that very moment, we become “justified in God’s eyes”, as explained in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “We become a new creation in Christ. The old (nature) is gone, (we are no longer slaves to our “sin nature”); the new (nature) has come (the indwelling Holy Spirit). But the truth is, at this point we are only prepared for “transformation”. Unless we participate in the process of growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ, that process of being transformed may be slow or even non-existent.
Now, here is the point of my revelation. Assuming that we have grown into that “new person” referenced in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – and we know that we are standing on The Truth, because we are standing on God’s Word – we have to be careful not to fall into the same kind of intolerance displayed by Jonah when he boarded the boat for Tarsus rather than for Nineveh. With our new-found courage, strength, confidence and assurance, we have to be careful that “self-righteousness” does not overtake us.
Unfortunately, I realized there have been times when I have fallen into that pompous, self-righteous attitude. If not careful, it is easy for Christ-followers to look at those who are on the flip-side of the coin and exclaim, “What is wrong with them? How can they believe such nonsense? But the truth is, we can never lose sight of Jesus’ proclamation when questioned by the Pharisees about the greatest commandment. He responded by saying, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law, and the message of the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 37-40)
The Law of Love, which is the crux of the New Testament, is summed up in Jesus’ statement. If we live these two proclamations, we will automatically live the other eight commandments, meaning we won’t lie, steal, covet, murder, commit adultery, or take the Lord’s name in vain. We will also honor our parents and honor God on the sabbath.
“But how do we love our neighbor when we don’t even like them”, you might ask? No doubt, that is a hefty challenge. In fact, it is absolutely contrary to our “human nature”, and it’s also contrary to worldly teaching. But God knew that, and that is exactly why He gave us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, we can be empowered to do things we can’t do of our own volition.
In the opening story, Jonah already had his idea of justice for the Ninevites. Unfortunately for him, God had a different plan in mind. As I have written many times before, God always prefers mercy for a repentant heart, rather than punishment for a disobedient heart. So, how does that story relate to us?
Our charge is to carry the message of salvation into the world. The reason most people don’t know God’s Truth, is because they haven’t heard His Truth. While we are called to always stand on that Truth, we are never to use it as a battering ram, or in any intimidating or demeaning way. We are called to speak the truth in love, just as our namesake did. That takes humility and compassion, so I strongly encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for His wisdom, courage, strength, humility and compassion. When this plan becomes your habit, you will be amazed at how you can further His Kingdom right here, right now. This is a tangible measure of transformation, because you “changed the way you think.”
Feel free to respond to this message, and please share it with other social media friends.
May God Bless You abundantly,
Dan Presgrave, (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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