The Sign

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 11:29-30 NASB)

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17 NASB)

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD." Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. (Jonah 2:1, 9-10 NASB)

At last, we come to the sign of Jonah. In his rebellion, Jonah became a prodigal. He ran as far as he could to get away from the call of God on his life, then boarded a ship and went even further. He was determined to avoid obedience, but that determined avoidance came at a terrible price. 

God responded to Jonah sin with a powerful storm that engulfed all those around him and threatened to turn deadly at any moment. The sailors, veterans of many storms, were terrified by this one. Desperate for answers, they turned to Jonah. "Save yourselves and throw me overboard," he told them. In desperation, out of options and as a last resort, they did. 

What no one could have known was that God had already made a provision for Jonah, and a giant fish was waiting for him. When Jonah was tossed overboard, it appeared that all hope was gone. He sank into the depths and, at just the right time, the great fish swallowed him whole. In that inky darkness, Jonah rediscovered his faith and his Lord.

He repented of his sin and promised to obey what he had vowed to God he would do. For three days and three nights, Jonah was in the belly of the fish before it vomited him onto dry land. When his feet his dry land, Jonah was a changed man.

When Jesus told the people of his day that the only sign they would receive was the sign of Jonah, this is the sign of which He was speaking. 

As Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights, so Jesus would be in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights. 

As Jonah was changed by his confinement, so Jesus would be changed. 

As Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so Jesus would be a sign to be the people. 

As Jonah's confinement in the belly of the fish was God's response to sin and rebellion, so Jesus' confinement in the belly of the earth was God's response to sin and rebellion. 

The vital difference in the two situations is that the sin and rebellion in Jonah's situation was his own. The sin and rebellion that led to Jesus' entombment, his death, was ours, yours and mine. His resurrection serves as proof that He has conquered the sin and rebellion we could not.

Jonah served as a sign to the people that there was no sin so great that God could not forgive, no prodigal escape so far away that God could not reach, no situation so hopeless that God could not intervene. Jesus' death served as the once-and-for-all payment for that sin, the once-and-for-all rescue for prodigal escapes, the once-and-for-all intervention for all hopeless situations.

Like Jonah, we are all prodigals. Some of us are running prodigals and some of us are staying prodigals. We all wander from God in our hearts, even when we do not run with our feet. It's a simple problem of rebellion. There is a God and we are not it. We want our own way, but His is best. Rebellion will not change those facts.

Aren't you tired of being a prodigal? Aren't you tired of seeking your own way, rather than God's? Aren't you tired of the storms that  result from your rebellion? Consider the sign of Jonah. Resurrection and a fresh start are available, and they can begin right this minute if you are willing.

From the belly of the darkest place on earth, Jonah called out to the Lord and He answered Him. He will do no less for you and me. Jonah found that salvation comes from the Lord. It still does. Call out to Him. He will not fail to respond.

Spiritual Detached Retina

"No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays." (Luke 11:33-36 NASB)

In order to understand the concept of "clear eye", we are taking a detour through a few eye diseases and making spiritual applications. We have previously considered Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma. You can click on the links to see those. Today, we are exploring Detached Retina.

The retina is the light-sensitive lining inside the eye that sends information through the optic nerve to the brain, allowing us to see. When the retina is detached, tearing away from its proper position, it can cause permanent loss of vision. The symptoms are an increase in floaters or light flashes or the appearance of a "curtain" over the field of vision. If treated immediately, usually with laser surgery or cryopexy (freezing), 90% of retinal detachments can be repaired, although recovery of vision can vary. A retinal detachment is a medical emergency and complaints of vision loss, floaters, or light flashes should trigger an immediate search for treatment. 

In a similar way. we as believers can become "detached" from the body of Christ for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you, like me, have had some experience in this. I've found that my propensity for detachment occurs in one of two ways, and is much like being a prodigal. 

I'm not proud of this, but on occasion, I've been physically detached from the body of Christ. In that instance, I've avoided attending church services and, at times, avoided "church people" (other believers). Most often, my detachment has been as a result of my own sin. It was easier to stay home than risk being confronted by truth and conviction. That, of course, was not my stated reason for staying away. At times I claimed a busy schedule and other times I claimed dissatisfaction with the church. I simply didn't attend.

Sometimes, though, I've been in-place but disconnected, much like the stay-at-home prodigal. My body has attended all the usual services, but my heart has been as disconnected from the people in my church, and from my Lord, as if I had stayed at home. This has been because of my own sin, as well. I hate to admit this, but usually it is because of my pride and critical judgmental spirit. You may have a different set of sins, but the result can be the same. 

When I get on my "haughty high horse", I can easily think that my failure to sense God's presence is because the people at my church are somehow at fault. How foolish that attitude is! My relationship with God is not dependent upon the faithfulness of other people, but upon my own faithfulness. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere all the time. If I don't "sense" Him, it is not because He is absent.

Every time, my failure to connect with the body of Christ has eventually affected my spiritual vision and my walk with Christ. The only treatment is to repent and reconnect.

Only our God is without sin. His believers are far from perfect and it's why we need a Savior. That's why there is a place for me in the body of Christ. That's why there is a place for you. We, too, are imperfect people, in need of a perfect Savior. 

Have we become detached from the body of Christ? Are we "detached in-place"? Allowed to persist, that detachment will affect our spiritual vision and our relationship with our Lord. Let's spend a few minutes today evaluating our own relationship with the Lord, including to His church. If there is evidence of detachment, let's treat it like the spiritual emergency it is and do what it takes to correct it. Treatment begins with repentance and reconnection, so don't wait. The body of Christ is dependent upon every part. Let's get in our place and do our part.

For the body is not one member, but many... But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."... Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:14, 20-21, 27 NASB)

The sign of the prodigal

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 11:29-30 NASB)

{I'm taking a little detour today because I found something important on the way from here to where I intended to go. We'll come back to this soon.}

To understand the sign of Jonah for the Ninevites, we need to understand the story of Jonah. (This is the Leanna paraphrase of his story) He was an ordinary man who was grumpy with God, openly rebellious, and had a judgmental, condemning spirit. He was a lot like us. (okay, me) Nineveh was sin city, wicked through and through. God spoke to Jonah. "I want you to go to Nineveh and cry against it, because the people are wicked through and through."  

This next part shouldn't surprise me, but it does, even though I've done the same thing before. I can speak with experience on Jonah's action. He didn't tell anyone God had called him to Nineveh. He didn't seek wise counsel on this move. He didn't discuss it with God or argue with him. Jonah said, "I'm not doing that," and he took a ship in the opposite direction. He headed as far away from Nineveh as he could go. 

Jonah became a prodigal. 

Jonah 1:3 makes me shake my head at his foolishness. Jonah knew when he bought his fare to Tarshish that he was trying to flee "from the presence of the Lord." Surely he knew that God was omnipotent and that he would never escape His presence. Regardless, he made a good try at escaping God. If you've ever tried to run from God's pursuit, you know how well that worked. It didn't work at all.

God didn't take well to Jonah's antics. "The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea." I have the mental image of a major league pitcher winding up, leaning back, and hurling a fast ball at the batter as hard as he can throw. God hurled the wind and whipped up a storm. 

The sailors, who were professional sailors and not usually terrified out of their minds at a storm, were terrified out of their minds at this storm. They knew it was extraordinary and that they were about to die. First, they cried out to their gods to save them. When their gods didn't help, they started throwing the cargo overboard to lighten the load. 

Finally, someone noticed that Jonah was missing. The captain found him, asleep in the hold, peacefully thinking that he was escaping from God. The captain couldn't believe it. "We're about to drown and you're sleeping? Get up and ask your God to save us. No one else's god has been any help at all." I can imagine that Jonah thought, "No way am I talking to God about this." When you are a rebellious prodigal, the last thing you want to do is talk to God about anything, even if you might save your life in the process. (Being a prodigal is a foolish thing on many levels.) 

The sailors decided to find out who was to blame for the calamity. They cast lots and Jonah got the blame. This frightened the sailors because Jonah had already told them he was fleeing from God. These pagan sailors thought, "This man is running from his God and his rebellion is about to cost us our lives." They were right. 

What we never seem to realize is that our time in the "far country" as a prodigal affects more than just ourselves. When we choose to go our own way, to seek our own pleasure, there is fallout. People are endangered by our rebellion and wounded by our choices. Those wounds can be far reaching and long lasting. They don't just go away because we wish it. Saying I'm sorry doesn't make wounds evaporate. It might be easier if it did.

If we haven't had a time as a prodigal, we've probably been the older brother. You remember him. He was a stay-at-home prodigal. Openly obedient, he was inwardly rebellious and angry. Even when we are not actively rebelling against God, we can have those prodigal moments when we think, "No. I'm not doing that, God. I'm not making a spectacle of myself. I'm not forgiving him. I'm not serving her. I'm not..." Those prodigal moments, if allowed to continue, can have devastating results, as Jonah can attest.

For today, let's stop here and consider our bent towards being a prodigal. We've all done it, and some of us have more fallout from out choices than others. Let's ask God to show us the consequences of our decisions and actions in the lives of those we love. 

There's mercy and grace available for all of this, but sometimes we need to "own" our choice and it's result so that God can bring healing. It's what Jonah did. The sailors said, "Jonah, this is your fault," and Jonah said, "Yes. It is." What God did with that confession is truly remarkable. Today, let's do some "Yes, it is" of our own. Confess our own failings and ask God to do something truly remarkable with our failure. Jonah's story changed with that admission and ours will, too.