Go tell those people

One day, the Lord spoke to the prophet Jonah and said, “Go to the city of Nineveh and tell the people that I know all about their wicked deeds.”

But Jonah did not want to listen. Instead of going to Nineveh, he went to a coastal town called Joppa and boarded a ship bound for Spain. When the ship was far out at sea, the Lord sent a great storm. The ship was in danger of sinking, and the sailors were terrified. They started throwing the cargo overboard and praying to their gods for help.

Earlier, Jonah had gone to his cabin and fallen fast asleep. When the captain of the ship found him there, he said, “How can you be sleeping? Get up and pray to your God to save us!”

Meanwhile, the sailors were drawing lots to find out who was responsible for the storm. When it became obvious that Jonah was the guilty one, the sailors asked, “Is all this your fault? What are you doing here? Where do you come from?”

Then Jonah told them that he worshipped the Lord of Heaven, the Creator of land and sea, and that he was running away from the Lord.

Does God care about wicked people too?

God loves us because it is His nature to love—not because we are good. God is love (1 John 4:16), so we do not need to do anything to earn His love.

God loves every person on earth so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins so that anyone who believes in Him will not die in sin but will live forever with Him (John 3:16). Romans 5:8 tells us that God loves people even before they believe in Him.

We do not have to do good deeds for God to love and accept us. All we need to do is believe in Jesus and ask Him to make us clean.

God loves sinful people, but He does not love the sinful things they do. That is why He sent people like Jonah to tell them about His way.

Before Jesus went back to heaven, He told His followers to go everywhere and tell people about God and the way to heaven (Matthew 28:19–20).

Verse for today

Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:31-32

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