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National Opt Out Day…Spiritual Opt In Day

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Maybe you’ve heard of the massive protest that's being planned for the busiest travel day of the year?  I would definitely recommend going by train or car, because the nation’s airports are going to be as crowded as a beehive, busy as a cat in a sandbox, and as stressed out as a turkey before Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 24th is being called “National Opt Out Day,” which is a coordinated effort for all airline passengers to politely “opt out” of the full body awkward image scans so they can instead get a physical pat down.

In other words…eww…and ewwww

I totally get why you’d rather have your fingernails pulled out than experience either one of those screenings, but it seems that these are the times we live in.  Plus if you do "opt out," you quite possibly could be tossed out of the airport, and there goes your chance to experience Gramma’s delectable meal followed by a food coma and football.

All this talk about the TSA rebellion reminded me of the first recorded "opt out" guy who also happened to be travelling:

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship (Jonah 1:1-5).

Jonah was a servant to God and His people, but in his heart he probably felt nothing but white hot hatred towards the people of Ninevah.  They had oppressed and murdered Jonah’s people, so when God asked him to warn the Ninevites about his judgment, he most definitely “opted out” of that plan and headed the opposite way.

The rest of the story?  God sends a massive storm that freaks out the sailors on Jonah’s boat, he volunteers to be fish bait, and the fish are not biting, but they are swallowing.  Then Jonah spends three very l o n n n g g g days and nights the dark and disgusting fish guts motel.

At that point he decided to opt back in…

I guess I would too - wouldn’t you? That decision earned Jonah a second chance, and within three days of being puked up on the shores of Ninevah, God used him to start one of the biggest revivals on record - 120,000 people responding to God’s message.  The people of Ninevah turned to God for forgiveness, and Jonah lived happily ever after.

OK, that last part isn’t true.  Jonah was hoping they would reject God’s offer of salvation, so when they accepted it, he was bummed that God followed through with mercy.  Maybe he changed his mind later, and I’m sure that at some point he took a massive shower, but at the end of the story we find him in silence pondering God’s question of “Hey Jo - I made these people, so why can’t I show love and compassion to them when they turn to me???”

Can you put yourself in Jonah’s place for a moment? Where is God calling you that makes you want to opt out? What group of students at your school who need to hear the gospel has you sprinting the other way?

Can you imagine what would happen if every follower of Christ came together and said: “God, I am not going to run anymore, but I am opting in and doing my version of Ninevah. I don’t care what it costs me and I don’t care how bad it hurts. I’m going to do what You have called me to do. I am going to build relationships outside of my comfort zone with them, and I am going to extend somebody grace and forgiveness that doesn’t deserve it. God, I am committed to go to Ninevah!”

You see, the lesson Jonah learned speaks just as loudly to us today:  Life is not about us and life is short. Let’s not opt out of a great opportunity to soar high with God’s plans just because it makes us uncomfortable…let’s opt in and make God’s concern our concern.

 

Ask your Christian friends who they would put in the “Ninevah” category in your school, then keep each other accountable on praying for them and coming up with a strategy to reach them with the gospel.

 

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).