| Bible Study: Have You A Repentant Spirit? |
By: Evangelist W.C. “Dub” Dellinger
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As a child of the Savior, we must live with a repentant spirit, ready at all times to forgive others of hatred and unkind deeds. We, as individuals can learn a lot from the prophet Jonah. As we know, Jonah was commanded by God to go to the city of Nineveh to deliver a message that the people repent of their sins and turn from their evil ways or be destroyed. Jonah boarded a ship, thinking he could run from God, and was ultimately tossed overboard and swallowed by a big fish where he stayed for 3 days.
Jonah prayed to God out of the belly of the fish and God heard. The Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah upon dry land. And when the Lord spoke to Jonah again, he arose and went into Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Jonah told the people if they did not repent and turn from their evil ways that God would destroy the city in forty days. That may seem like a long time for a righteous God to delay judgment, but it is only a little time for an unrighteous people to repent and reform in. It should awaken each of us to consider that we can never be sure that we will live another day, much less forty days. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. We should live each day with a repentant spirit, dying daily to our sins and reforming to a higher standard.
The people of Nineveh did not have the death and merits of Jesus Christ to which they could trust their pardon upon repentance as we do. They could only hope that God would turn from His fierce anger and their ruin would be prevented. They dared not to presume, but they did not despair. Hope of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation. When we boldly cast ourselves at the footstool of grace, God will look upon us with compassion. He sees who turn from their evil ways and who do not. Thus He spared Nineveh. The Bible speaks of no sacrifices offered to God by the people of Nineveh to make atonement for sin, only a broken and contrite heart; a repentant spirit. Jonah 3:10 says “And God saw their works; that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that he would do unto them, and He did it not.” He will do the same for us today....if we have a repentant spirit.
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