Former Blackout Artist

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” [Jonah] replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” – Jonah 1:12-14

I have a couple of good friends who happen to be unbelievers. I’ve shared my faith with them in the past and still occasionally remind them that I’ve not given up hope that maybe someday they’ll join me at church. I genuinely pray that that happens.

Both of them are wonderful, caring people. They’re always there for their neighbors, they’re involved with a couple of local charities that serve the underprivileged in their communities, and they spend time during the holidays serving dinners to the homeless at a church downtown. One day while I was sitting in my car in the grocery store parking lot, I saw the one friend. He was quickly walking all the way down to the end of the parking lot, and I began wondering, what the heck is he doing? A few seconds later I see him pushing an empty shopping cart to return it to the stall. Then I saw him looking back at an elderly lady waving at him and thanking him. Nobody in the parking lot. Nobody to impress. Just my friend being a friend to an old lady.

I thought to myself, Man! If only he was on the winning team…

Do you know a few people like that? Folks who aren’t Christians but who seem to live a godlier life than some of us Christians do?

When I read this part in Jonah about these pagan sailors doing everything within their power to fight that storm and row that ship to shore – and all because they valued the life of a man who had put their own lives in grave danger – I think of those two friends of mine. Good people. Honest people. People who care. People who look out for others, even when it costs them something.

These sailors had every reason to throw Jonah overboard the moment they learned he was responsible for the storm. Instead, they exhausted themselves trying to save him! They refused to take the easy way out.

Their compassion stands in complete contrast to Jonah’s indifference. Men who didn’t even know the Lord!

It just reminds us that it’s possible to know the right doctrines and still have a cold heart. It’s possible to sit in church every Sunday, read our Bibles every morning, and yet lack the compassion, humility, and sacrificial love that ought to mark us as people of God. While good works will never make us right with God, those who have been made right with God should increasingly reflect the heart of Christ.

Jesus didn’t simply risk His life for those who wanted Him dead – He willingly gave His life for them. I’ve often wondered if Barabbas – the prisoner who was freed instead of Jesus – ever realized that he had become the living illustration of the very reason Jesus came into the world. Jesus literally took that man’s place on the cross! And He did the same for you and me.

When that truth finally hits you (and I pray that it hits those two friends of mine someday soon) it doesn’t just change where you’ll spend eternity. It changes the way you live presently.

The gospel produces people who love sacrificially because they have been loved sacrificially.