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The cost of disobedience

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Jonah is an interesting character in the story of God, and I think we can learn something significant from his life. But first, notice all the things that he put between himself and God in an attempt to deny God’s call on his life.

Distance

If Jonah had gone directly from where he received the call of God (Joppa) to the place God called him to (Nineveh), it would have been about 725 miles. Instead, he went the opposite direction toward Tarshish, which was about 3,000 miles from where he was. That’s a lot of distance to put between oneself and God.

Destruction

Because of Jonah’s disobedience, the sailors encountered a violent storm that threatened to break apart their ship. They threw their cargo overboard to try to save themselves and the boat.

Death

Jonah finally told them to throw him overboard so the storm would stop. He was even willing to put his own death between himself and the call of God.

What do we learn from all of this? Simply that disobedience always costs more than obedience.

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Don’t put off what God is calling you to do, even if it seems like it will cost you everything. It may, for sure, and yet what we learn from Jonah is that disobedience will always cost more.

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July 1, 2021by Paul Jenkins
Written by Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins is lead pastor of The Gathering, a community church located in beautiful downtown Albemarle, North Carolina. He's the author of God is My Air Traffic Controller and My Name's Not Lou. Paul is passionate about his wife, his 3 children, running, reading, coaching, leading people who are following Jesus, Swedish Fish and the Carolina Panthers.