“Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left?”
Jonah 4:11
Imagine that you are responsible for parking at the Super Bowl. Your job is to clear the parking lot as quickly and as safely as possible.
When the game ends, you motion the front row forward. Nothing happens. You walk over to the first car, and the driver says, “I got in the car, and everything went dark. I can’t drive. I’m blind.”
You go to the next car, and the driver says, “I got in the car, and some guy slapped these handcuffs on me. I can’t drive. I’m bound.”
You move to the third car, and the driver is slumped over. He is dead.
People are blaring their horns, but you have compassion. Why? Because you understand the problem.
There is a kind of Christianity that is angry with the sinful world. A kind of preaching that rails against the evils of our times and seems to find pleasure in doing so. It is angry because it does not understand the human condition.
By nature, we are blind, bound, and dead. We cannot see the glory of Christ. We do not have the power to stop sinning. And we will not come to Christ and follow Him.
That’s true of every person. Reflecting on the human condition will help you to grow in compassion. It will make you less like Jonah and more like the Lord, who has compassion on people who cannot tell their right hand from their left.
On a scale of 1 (angry) to 5 (indifferent) to 10 (compassionate), reflect on your attitude toward the sinful world, and especially toward those in your life who currently reject God.
