I have come to love the story of Jonah in the Bible. Its clear message of the need to listen for and follow God's directing speaks to my heart. Doesn't it relate very closely to today's scene, where varying cultures are developing side by side? Arguments of incompatibility, of self-righteousness, of unrighteousness, press upon us. The world would say that because of different backgrounds and life styles persons and neighborhoods are at war with each other, one side feeling itself to be too good or too bad to be friendly with the other side.
But the redeeming Christ — revealing the truth of man's innocence, purity, and Godlikeness — awakens within each listening heart a love for all mankind. It tells each one that God cares for all, and His tender presence saves all from self-righteousness and unrighteousness.
In the Old Testament narrative, God told Jonah, a Jew who believed in one God, to go to Nineveh, a pagan city with a notorious reputation, to warn the people to repent of their idolatrous ways.
