Talk about a rotten testimony

… So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. - Jonah 1v7-10

I hate it when I do things that hurt my testimony. I hate when the world knows more about how I should live than I do. I hate it when I do things that bring reproach on the name of Christ.

That is just what Jonah did here. His running from God made a mess of everything. When things went bad the custom was to cast lots to find out who to blame. The lot fell on Jonah. He was put in a tough spot when they asked him who his god was. ‘I am a Hebrew, I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land.’

He also told the men that he was running from God. ‘What are you doing?’ they asked him.

It is bad enough to be running from God. It is even worse when it is public and God is shamed by our behaviour. Jonah said here that he feared God, but it is pretty obvious that he was more afraid of Ninevah.

How often do the fears of this world overcome our own fear of the Lord? How often do our lives belie our words to those around us?

We claim that we fear the Lord. Do our lives prove it?