Living in a country that has been marked by war, terrorism, revolution and oppression has made the line in the sand separating the good guys from the bad guys feel really obvious. Enemies are clear – we quickly learned to distinguish the sound of their airplanes flying overhead from the ones who mean us no harm. 

Recently a local church posted a prayer for the leaders of our country on their Instagram feed. Generally my prayers for the leaders revolve around the theme of justice, but this prayer was asking for them to experience life-changing grace. My first reaction, to be honest, was to recoil at the thought. But as the Holy Spirit convicted me of my attitude, I was forced to ask myself some hard questions. Do I not believe that God's grace is sufficient for my enemies? Or do I just not want them to experience it? 

As we look into the life of Jonah, who some might consider the worst global worker ever, we see that Jonah struggled with these same two questions. As Tim Keller points out, even as Jonah cries out to God from the belly of a fish for deliverance, he still views himself as somehow more deserving of God's grace than “those clinging to empty idols” (Jonah 2:8). This explains why he is so confused at the end of the book when the people of Ninevah repent from their evil ways. Jonah is struggling to understand how God could give grace to his enemies, which means he clearly isn't understanding grace in his own life as well. 

I'm thankful that when I start to feel like I am somehow more deserving of God's grace – Look at all the work I've done for the Lord! Look at all I've given up! – the Holy Spirit gently reminds me that without God's grace, I am no better off than my enemies. “There is none righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10). I need grace just as much as the leaders in my country, just as much as the Ninevites, just as much as Jonah.