Listen

Jonah started into the city, walking one day, and he cried out, “Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant.

God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.

Jonah 3:4-5, 10

Think

I once heard a pastor say, “It’s okay if the Church does nothing. God will fulfill God’s purpose.” I think he meant to be encouraging, but it left me asking, “Then, what are we doing? What difference could we make?” God is God, no question; but Jonah’s story shows us that God calls each of us for a purpose. God chased after Jonah insistently, because God uniquely created Jonah to share God’s word with the Ninevites, who were transformed.

God also uniquely formed each of us with particular gifts and passions to show God’s love in a way only we can do. We aren’t interchangeable. Christian leader Suzanne Stabile once spent five years observing the deep needs in her community for what would be hers to do, her purpose in God’s kingdom. Look around you: where you notice brokenness in the world and recognize a way you can contribute to its healing, pay attention. That might be God calling you to do the work that is yours to do, because God created you for a purpose.

Jessica Tidwell-Weinzierl

Pray

Creator God, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, but I’m not always sure what my gifts are or what it is you are calling me to do. Please help me discover the work that is mine to do each day, so I can use my gifts to show your love. I’m listening. Amen.

Go

You are a child of God, deeply beloved, and you have great purpose in God’s kingdom. Go, and do what is yours to do, in the love of Christ, our Redeemer! Amen.