It is currently a wet and dreary Fall day here in the SC Foothills. The dreariness is made more pronounced by the fact that tonight I have to go back to work and start a new rotation (I currently work swing shifts).
Often when I am beginning a new work rotation or am going into the plant, people will tell me “don’t work too hard.” To which I always seem to respond with “I’ll try my best not to.” It is half-joke but if I’m honest, many days that thought is more truth than it is a joke.
This morning I began diving into a new devotional resource by my friend Matt Henslee that deals with the book of Jonah. Matt’s devotional thought was clear and timely, yet as I was reading the Scripture I found myself honing in on two thoughts from the text that my brother did not dive into, but they caught my attention. These two thoughts may not be explicit in the text but can be implied from the text.
Jonah 1:1-2
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
The two directives that the Lord gives to Jonah are “Arise” and “go.” You may be asking right now, “Josh, the text explicitly says those two words, I thought you said you wanted to hone in on two implied thoughts?” Yes, and yes! The text explicitly uses the words “arise” and “go.” But those words lead to a deeper truth.
Today I just want to deal with the first word, “Arise” and at a later time I will deal with the second thought and word, “go.”
First, while the text may not explicitly say, I think it can be easily assumed of text that Jonah was found laying down. One cannot rise up if they are already up. In plain terms, Jonah was found laying down on the job. Oh how often I have found myself in such a position, whether that be in my secular job or in preparing for ministry. The Lord was calling out to Jonah and calling him out of laziness, out of an undisciplined life. We as Christians have been called to a disciplined life.
1 Peter 3:15
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
Christian, part of honoring Christ is always being ready and prepared to tell others about Him! The Lord was commanding His prophet to prepare himself for the task at hand by ridding himself of laziness. And He is commanding us, as disciple-making-disciples to do the same thing! Turn off the Playstation, quit scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Get out of the bed and off the couch. The mission is at hand, will we allow laziness and lack of discipline to deter us from being used of God?
I often used to hear pastors and preachers say that we should be “prepared up, and prayed up.” I tend to not lean heavily on these old sayings, yet in this instance, there is so much truth here. Are you ready to present the Gospel to someone today?
Have you allowed laziness to creep into your bible study and prayer life? Have you been scrolling through Social Media reading what is going on in the life of others, while your life is scrolling out of control around you? Have you taken control of your day off of work, or have you allowed the couch to be king?
These things in and of themselves are not bad, but when we allow laziness and lack of self-discipline to hijack our life we are unbalanced. The Lord wanted to use Jonah greatly, but first He had to pull Jonah up onto his feet. Perhaps there are areas in our life where we are laying down and not being used for God’s glory. Today is a perfect day to stop, get up, open the Word, and give Him liberty to work in us so we can work for Him! Not for our glory, but His!
Written by Josh Baker
Shared from A Sojourners’ Journey with Permission.
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