Love and service

Monday March 29, 2021

Love and service

If I have the gift of prophecy, the understanding of all mysteries and all knowledge, if I even have all the faith to the point of transporting mountains, but I do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2

Jonah receives a specific mission from the Lord : to announce judgment to the inhabitants of Nineveh. God, in his grace, warns those he will punish so that they can repent. That's why he's sending Jonas. But Jonah does not like the Ninevites, those domineering and cruel pagans. And then, it is much more rewarding to be the spokesperson for God to announce to his people the victory over their enemies (2 Kings 14:25) !

He turns his back on Nineveh to put the whole Mediterranean Sea between this city and him. However, constrained and forced by the Lord, he ended up delivering the divine message to the Ninevites : In 40 days the city will be destroyed. God takes into account the repentance of the king and his subjects, and does not destroy the city. Instead of rejoicing, Jonah is angry with the Lord. He thus shows that he still has no love for the Ninevites and that only his credibility as a prophet matters to him, for he foretold an event that did not happen.

It can happen today to a servant, to whom God has entrusted a gift, to carry out his ministry without love, without joy. It was already serious in the Old Testament : Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and good heart... (Deuteronomy 28:47), and it still is. What joy, on the contrary, should give us the privilege of being admitted as collaborators of God !

Besides the example of the Lord who served men, let us look at the apostle Paul, a man quite like us. The Corinthians questioned his ministry, gave him doctrinal and moral concerns ; He therefore speaks to them severely, adding : As for me, I will spend very willingly and I will spend myself for you even if the more I love you, the less I am loved by you (2 Corinthians 12:15).

We are both little servants compared to Paul, but the service we have, let us do it with love, first for the Lord and then for those we serve.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)