Day 194: Who Deserves God's Message

1 Corinthians 14:26-40; 2 Kings 9; Jonah 4

Paul says that church should be done for the good of everyone there, peacefully and orderly. Whether there are new people or returning people, young or old, the church is designed to function for its people. And since the church is not just a building, but a group of people (us), we need to do things for others.

Now as far as the women on speaking in church paragraph, I honestly don't know how to take that. Maybe it was just a cultural thing, that women of that time period should have remained quiet during church. Perhaps if they spoke out people in that community would have wanted to stone them or something for stepping out of place, so Paul was just protecting them. Maybe women really aren't supposed to speak in church, but I have a hard time believing that that would be what Jesus wanted, considering that Jesus hung out with all sorts of people and there are many people throughout the New Testament that are praised for their service to the church. I pray that God will help me to understand this passage better.

Gory stuff. If people think that the Bible is tame and boring, they've never read it. In these verses in 2 Kings, it is gruesome murder and death that takes place. God calls people to destroy the wicked, wipe them out, so that the sin and rebellion that they lead people into will stop with them. God had no patience for the wicked, especially the chosen leaders of his nations.

Jonah gets mad about God's mercy, patience, and love. He's angry that God loves people! He has some sort of ill will for the people of Ninevah and feels that they didn't deserve grace. Man, when we don't like someone, don't we sort of feel the same way? That they don't deserve the message of Jesus so I'm not going to share it with them. God teaches Jonah that the people were not created by or for Jonah, but by and for God. They are his creation, his children, and whether or not they deserve to be saved is up to God. Who are we to decide someone' eternal fate? We need to be humble servants of The Lord and take his message to whomever he calls us.