When it's Hard to be in Close Proximity

By Rey Diaz

“One day long ago, God's Word came to Jonah, Amittai's son: "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer." 3 But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get.” (Jonah 1:1-2)

We all know the story of Jonah; we learned it in Sunday school. As a child it was hard to forget about how a man was swallowed by a whale! Now that we are older, something else stands out in this story. Jonah’s tale is about a person who received a call from God, but instead of following that call, he turned around and ran in the opposite direction. He ran away because he felt squeamish at the idea of entering the great and important city of Nineveh, and bringing God’s truth to them. Jonah thought it would be easier to run away than be in close proximity with people so different from him.

Sometimes we think like Jonah. We know just as intrinsically that God placed us to reach out to particular people. But these people might as well be from Nineveh for how intimidated we are to bring up God’s truth! We think: “how will they respond? What if they become offended and it changes our relationship forever? I don’t want to lose their friendship….but then again I also don’t want to lose them, when I know there is a better way….”

If Jonah stayed comfortable, Nineveh would never have the chance to experience God’s saving-love…and their destruction was imminent. Yet, when Jonah repented and became obedient, do you remember what happened? The entire city (which took three-days to walk across) declared a fast unto the Lord, from the elderly to the children, all the way to the animals! Even the king of the city repented and demanded that those underneath do likewise.

Oh…that this could happen to our cities! I once heard it said that Seattle has more dogs than Christians, and it not hard to believe when you get a chance to look behind closed doors at the hurt hapenning in many households.

My prayer is that God would call those who hold His light to carry it into the darkness…even if it feels uncomfortable…and that we would fearlessly bare the cost of close proximity...because we love our city and those in need, but more importantly, we love the One who has called us to it.
* What about you? Do you tend to take the easy way out, like Jonah, or walk without hesitation into the communities and households of people different from you?
* What gets in the way of your close proximity to those in need? What are you going to do differently to connect with those in need?

(Post comments here, so that others may be inspired by your courage and authenticity)