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SATURDAY: From Reluctant Missionary to Willing Witness
BIG IDEA:
The only thing harder than following God’s Will is wishing that you had.
Reading: Jonah 4:1-4; Matthew 12:40-41
Jonah 4:1-4
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Matthew 12:40-41
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
Devotional:
Even after Nineveh repented and God relented, Jonah’s heart still resisted. He had obeyed externally, but internally he remained reluctant and bitter. God cared not only about saving a city but also about transforming Jonah.
In the same way, God isn’t just after your outward obedience—He wants your heart. Jesus said that “something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41). Unlike Jonah, Jesus didn’t run from His mission; He ran toward the cross for you. Jonah went into the depths of the sea for his own sin. Jesus went into the depths of the grave for yours.
Reflection:
You may feel like a reluctant missionary—obeying God with hesitation, fear, or half-heartedness. The good news is that God patiently pursues both the lost and the reluctant. He doesn’t just use you in spite of your weakness; He reshapes you through it.
Response:
Today, ask God to move you from reluctant to willing, from resistant to surrendered. Pray: “Lord, I don’t just want to do Your will—I want to want Your will.” The only thing harder than following God’s will is wishing you had, but in Christ, you don’t walk that path alone.
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