TUE 01 AUG
CONTRAST
READ Jonah 1:11-15 Matthew 5:1-16
FOCUS Then they cried out to the Lord. They prayed, ‘Lord, please don’t let us die for taking this man’s life.’ Jonah 1:14
I remember the day when my hairdresser made me cry – and it had nothing to do with her handiwork with my hair. She always did well, considering the limited resources that she worked with. As far as I know, she is not a professing Christian. She had just decided to take a fairly troubled 19-year-old into her home. He has had a turbulent upbringing, punctuated by continual abuse, but she and her husband have determined to show him some real love, at great personal cost to them. And this is a long-term commitment. ‘Every time he’s messed up, he’s been kicked out. We want to show him something different.’ The contrast between the pagan sailors and Jonah is stark. They work hard to save the ship while he sleeps. They do everything they can to avoid turning Jonah overboard, risking their own lives to try to save his. And they prayed – to the real God this time – that they would not be held accountable for the death of a man who might be innocent. The writer emphasises the name of the true God to whom they prayed – He is the Lord, stated three times. The sailors have come to understand the truth about God through this painful storm, but this is despite Jonah, not because of him. Jonah seemed untroubled by his own sin – and had risked the lives of everybody on board with his wilful rebellion. Sometimes those outside the Christian family shame us. God helping us, let’s be beacon people, living as salt and light in a world that so needs Christ. Prayer: Lord, bring good people to Yourself and make them godly. And make ‘godly’ people good. Amen.
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