God’s Love for the Lost (Episode 21)

God’s love for the lost is perfectly summed up in John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Hence, when we say God loves us, it’s not just because He says so in His word. But He demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die on the cross for a world of sinners.

Sometimes, though Christians may not actually say it, they convey the message that God loves them, and He is mad with those who have not accepted Christ. The truth is that God’s love for the lost is the same as it is for Christians.

Jonah the prophet experienced this truth after God sent him to preach a message of destruction to the people Nineveh. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” Jonah said (Jonah 3:4, KJV). But after the people repented and turned from their evil, God had compassion on them and spared them (verse 10).

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry” (Jonah 4:1). This was not the response Jonah wanted to see.  He wanted God to destroy the people of Nineveh. What kind of preacher was Jonah that we wanted to see people destroyed and not saved?

After we accept Christ as our Savior, our goal should be to become more like God and more like His Son. God so loved the world that He gave His Son. His Son so loved the world that He gave His life. If we are going to be like the Father and the Son, we must reflect God’s love for the lost in our life.

Jonah knew the heart of God. He referred to Him as being “a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” (verse 2). Accordingly, Jonah should not have been surprised by God’s show of mercy. But Jonah’s problem was that he didn’t embrace the heart of the God He was serving. This is also true about many of God’s people today.