"Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’" (Jonah 3:1-2 NIV)
Jonah’s desperate plea in yesterday’s passage brought about his deliverance through a mighty miracle. In that deliverance God gave Jonah a second chance at the job he had been assigned. God gave Jonah a second opportunity to get in on what He was going to do in Nineveh.
So many times people, with which we share the gospel, are afraid they have been too bad and God could not want them or use them. It is just not true. Many times God gives people a second chance. Samson was given a second chance to defeat the Philistines, David was given a second chance after his sin with Bathsheba, and Peter was given a second chance to declare his devotion to Jesus Christ. They all chose to seek God’s forgiveness and God chose to forgive them.
Everyone gets a chance to participate in God’s plan for their life. Our past mistakes do not disqualify us from serving God. Consider the story of the lost son in Luke 15:11-32. A man had two sons and the younger one decided he wanted his inheritance so he could leave home and live on his own. The son took the inheritance and spent it all, and ended up taking a job feeding pigs. He knew that his father’s servants had plenty of food while he had none. He went home and asked his father to make him a servant, but the father was overjoyed to see him and welcomed him back into his family. He said, "‘For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate." Jesus told this parable to represent the way God our Father feels when we return to Him.
Remind your lost friends that God is a God of second chances. Oh, and remind yourself of that as well.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luke 15:20 NIV)
Jo