We all have two reactions to scripture, the verses we love, & the verses we wish weren’t there. Are there things in scripture you love to read or hear about? Often, social media is a place where people express it. Memes of nice verses from Psalms with promises, encouragements, even some commands like “Love your neighbor.” We all have favorite verses, right? Phil 4:13, John 3:16… verses everyone loves! Encouraging, Inspiration! But what about passages which get us real quiet when we hear them? Verses we would rather ignore? I don’t see many Leviticus or Isaiah meme posts or ball players putting them under their eyes. Verses which, if God really means it, require significant changes you aren’t willing to make? Maybe addressing areas of sin in your life, something you shouldn’t be doing but don’t want or can’t afford to stop? You know, sexual purity, handling money, marriage, verses you hope God means as suggestions, not really commands? Commands we somehow rationalize, hoping “well God is just speaking hypothetically.” We tend to just ignore those verses, so we can move on, get back to Psalms & Phil 4:13 ASAP, resulting in disobedience. This is precisely what the story of Jonah is about. A prophet who likes some of God’s word, but not all of it.
