Think Global

4 weeks and counting....that's how long it's been since we have had small group. In case you don't know, our youth group meets every other Sunday for small group/Bible study and I just so happen to lead it. But my life has been so crazy for the past month, I just have been way too bombarded to lead it. And to make things worse, I absolutely love leading small groups and its driving me crazy that we haven't had one yet!

To be fair, I have been really busy with good, productive, personal things, but at the same time I haven't been able to properly meditate and prepare with the Word as I wanted to. So this week I finally hunkered down and spent some time studying the Word and really praying about what God wants me to do over the next few months. And He spoke loud and clear....

Think bigger. We get caught up in a lot of good things. Even good spiritual things. We might be nice, church going people who even read the Word and pray regularly. That's where I found myself....but something was still lacking. I felt that I was doing the will of God in my life....but the funny thing is God's will is SO much bigger than the personal will for our particular lives. He has a Global will in mind too.

We all know the story of Jonah...but one particular note about it caught me. He was a prophet!! Here is someone who actually understands the character of God Himself, and still refused to do His will. That's because Jonah was selfish and even though he wanted to serve God as a prophet, he cared about God's personal will for him rather than God's global will. A perfect example of this is that Jonah literally got angry after God showed mercy on Nineveh! (Jonah 4:1-2) Who does that? Why would he get mad at God saving someone? But when the vine he was getting shade for withered away, he became angry again because it affected him personally.

I love how the book of Jonah ends. It ends with a question from God, and I felt He was asking the same question to me and I hope you feel convicted too when you read it. Jonah 4:11: "But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" How does this relate to me not leading Bible study? Simple...I need to spend more time furthering God's GLOBAL will instead of my own. Developing youth into a community for Christ is our mission. We can spend all day praying and fasting for our personal needs, but at the end of the day, God is asking us to be concerned with something greater.