Repentance and Mercy

 Jonah 1-4; 2 Timothy 2 

“’Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’…’I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’”

Jonah 1:2; 4:2

God’s wrath against sin is not incongruent with his grace, compassion, and love for people. Jonah was sent to an enemy of Israel with a message of repentance. God’s kindness leads us to repentance.

Are we willing to deliver God’s message about sin to a culture and generation that has forgotten the meaning of sin and repentance?

The love of God is greater than we can imagine, extending to the cruelest and most violent people on earth. Yet he does not ignore their sin. God’s desire is that no one would die for their sin - not Nineveh, not terrorists, not dictators - but that everyone would repent of their sin and find the mercy of God in Christ.

Is that a mission we can accept, or will we, like Jonah, run the other way?

“Lord God, your mercy toward me and this world is amazing! Thank you, for your glory.”