“But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.’”
which came up in a night and perished in a night
Jonah’s plant (his air conditioning system) came quickly and went away quickly. It was a temporal thing. It was a temporal gift from God given out of unadulterated grace.
Jonah had no “right” (Jonah 4:4,9) to be angry because he did not earn the right to enjoy the plant. God gave him the plant due to no merit on his part. Jonah then must tacitly acknowledge that the plant was an act of grace on God’s part. He did not earn or deserve it. If Jonah was the recipient of God’s grace, the Ninevites must be afforded that right as well.
PRINCIPLE:
A good perspective on grace puts transitory things in their proper place.
APPLICATION:
Temporal things are momentary. They are not lasting values. We give great amounts of time to these things, but in the final analysis, they are temporal and will not enrich us in time nor continue into the eternal state.
Most of us have a superficial heart for the spiritual needs of people around us. Our vision for those without Christ has dimmed. This is because we have lost our perspective on the grace of God.
Ro 11:6, “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.”
2 Co 1:12, “For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.”
2 Co 6:12, “For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.”
He 12:28-29, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.”
1 Pe 4:10-11, 10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
