Monday, June 06, 2016

Most of us have an agenda as we face opportunities or obstacles in life. Sometimes they are hidden agendas, even to ourselves. God’s primary agenda is to seek and to save that which is lost. You see this throughout the Bible and human history. What is your agenda in the circumstance in which you find yourself right now? Jonah 4 gives us an opportunity to look at a process that might help us answer the question of whose agenda really matters in our lives. In this chapter we see Jonah’s agenda spelled out quite clearly. We also see God’s agenda. Sadly the two are miles apart. Jonah had obeyed God’s instructions for him to warn the Ninevites of impending judgment, but his heart was looking for something totally other than what was in the heart of God. It’s almost like the little boy who was being disciplined for being naughty by being made to sit in a chair facing a corner of the room. He said indignantly to himself, “I’m sitting on the chair, but my heart is standing.” How often we go through perfunctory obedience where we dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s” correctly, but our hearts aren’t in it, or worse yet, our hearts are actually craving for something totally contrary to what we are doing. We need to ask ourselves, “Whose agenda really matters anyway?” With hindsight, we will always see that God’s agenda is not only best, it’s the only way to go. So why not be wise and seek God’s agenda first and then follow it wholeheartedly, looking for His purpose to be fulfilled.