JONAH’S KIND OF REPUTATION, OUR STUMBLING BLOCK (WHAT IS JONAH’S KIND OF REPUTATION)

                     

I am sure some of my readers are not very clear about what I meant by Jonah’s Kind of reputation. So I want to take my time to explain it in a definite term. But before we look at Jonah’s kind of reputation, it will be instructive for us to understand the meaning of the word reputation. Reputation by general definition, means views that are generally held about somebody or something, it also among other definitions, means a high opinion people or society hold about somebody or a thing. 

For example there was a Philistine named Goliath and he was called a champion because the people held him in high esteem as an unconquerable man of war from his youth -  1 Samuel 17:4(KJV)  “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span” and 1 Samuel 17:33(KJV) “And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 

So society or people’s estimation of who we are and what we represent is our reputation, but the fact is, because human beings are limited to the realm of the flesh, their actual estimation of who we are is normally limited to the flesh and not beyond the flesh. So who we really are might not be society’s estimation of us.

Going forward let us look at the character called Jonah, in order to have a full understanding of the topic under discussion here. Jonah son of Ammittai was a prophet peerless in the 760 B.C, he commanded a lot of respect among the prophets. As a prophet, Jonah was supposed to play a key role in the impending great revival, yet he chose to disobey God, when he was instructed to carry out an assignment that will usher in “the greatest recorded awakening in the bible: the turning to God of an entire city of Nineveh, over one hundred and twenty thousand souls.” 

Although he knew clearly what God wants to do to the city of Nineveh through this important assignment, Jonah chose to do the opposite and the question is why? Because maintaining his peerless reputation to him was more important than carrying out the very heart-beat of God who wants all men to be saved, including one of Israel’s bitter enemies- the Assyrian people of Nineveh- 1Timothy 2:3-4 (KJV) “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 

It was Jonah’s reputation in the eyes of men that probably made him consider this in his heart “What if I say they are going to be destroyed, and their repentance lets them off God’s hook and leaves me looking like a foolish false prophet of doom.” After carefully considering this in his heart, Prophet Jonah took a decision to go the opposite direction according to Jonah 1:1-3(KJV) “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.  But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”  

That is what I refer to in this series as “JONAH’S KIND OF REPUTATION”. It is this kind of reputation that makes us always place the opinion of men above the opinion and the directions of God – Jonah 4:1-2(KJV) “ But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” But how do we know that we are exhibiting Jonah’s Kind of Reputation- some of the traits of that kind of reputation is as follows:

·         Disobeying the Call of God because of what Men will say - From the accounts in Jonah 1:1-3, it is clear that Prophet Jonah disobeyed the leadings of God on his life because of what men will say about him. We will normally read this story and look at Jonah as a very stubborn person, but how many of us are not doing the same thing, I mean disobeying God big time. 

     How many of us have chosen not to obey the voice of God, because of what people will say about us- what will my family say about this, what will my colleagues say about me? How will people view me in the community? Among other questions are some of the reasoning that our mind considers anytime what people say become our major focus? There are great revivalist who are working in the corporate world and refusing to heed to the call of God on their lives; they are great entrepreneurs or business magnets who are working for big corporation when they know that God is calling them to go start business. 

  Often the absurdity and the uncertainty that accompanies this calling is what makes it unappealing- the calling might be absurd in the eyes of men, yet great in the eyes of God. I remember once someone retorted to me – he said “that the reason why he refused to give up his career to become a preacher is because of the public’s perception about preachers; he mentioned the fact that he had to depend on people’s offering and giving to support himself is something he cannot come to terms with and besides lately most pastors have been labelled as greedy money seeker’s.

·         Majoring on Branding Yourself, Above Character Development – You and I must know that God is more concerned with our character than our reputation- making it  to eternity is more important to God and Heaven than how men view us on this earth. It is not a wise thing to throw our tickets to eternity on the altar of our reputation. Although branding ourselves and looking good in the eyes of men is not itself a bad thing, we must be reminded that doing that at the expenses of our character development is where the problem is – 

    when we channel all our energies and resources towards showing a good image of ourselves to the world so us to earn its respect, instead of looking relevant in the eyes of God. This situation is a sad eternal reality that we must all come to terms with, remember what Jesus Christ said in Luke 11:39 (KJV) “And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.”  

     How often haven’t we been preoccupied and exerting ourselves to looking good in the eyes of men, when we are doing nothing about our character flaws that is oblivious to the public. We sometimes project our ministries as a heavenly representation, when the underlying currents that drives and moves our ministries are forces that are alien to what is heavenly. Social media, especially facebook is becoming a forum of self-platitude and aggrandizement – a scene of over exaggerated image of ourselves and ministries. 

     Anytime our sense of accomplishment is signaled by the number of likes and followership we get on facebook and other social media, instead of on heaven’s approval and applause, then we must know that we have been gripped and overrun by what I call “JONAH’S KIND OF REPUTATION”. This is the big cancer that is always making us  use social media as a forum of projecting ourselves, do not get me wrong, social media especially facebook is an amazing tool, but how we use it is where the problem is. We must use it to project what God has called us to do; we must use it to draw people to God.

There is nothing wrong in seeking to have a good reputation before men, even the bible said in Luke 2:52(KJV) “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” But you will notice from this scripture he did not only find favour before men, but he first of all found favour before God, His father. But the problem with us is that we seek to maintain reputation before men and do nothing about our reputation before God. 

God bless you for following us and reading this article. If you have any questions or comments you can leave it below, or you can also send me an email via- wisafawubo@gmail.com or send me a whatsup message on +233233868205