When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. – Jonah 2:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 16, 2013): Jonah 1 & 2

There is currently an advertisement on television where I live where a man questions his ability to retire. It is probably a question a lot of us are struggling with. And in the ad the man outlines his shifting priorities through life. In the beginning, it had been family issues. But then those faded and business issues took the forefront of his thought – and money. So at the age of fifty he had little saved up for retirement, and he felt it was almost too late to start. But that was when he found (the product being advertised), and now his retirement is assured. Obviously, the ad is directed at the myriad of people who have retirement anxiety. And it is a well placed prod. There are a lot of people in our aging society who have exactly that question. While retirement preparation was never a priority in their youth – taking a back seat to family and business issues – now it is problem that needs to be solved.

The idea of shifting priorities is not new. Life has a way of sharpening our focus on the important things as it passes. The things that we think are important during our teenage years are very seldom the things that we consider important later in life. Often, the things that are most important at the start of life are considered trivial by the end of our existence.

Jonah starts off his story as being a very principled man. What was important to him was the way that life 

was lived, and the idea of forgiveness was a distant thought. Actually, it would seem that God was a distant thought. What was vital was that those who work get paid, and those who live right lives be rewarded for their diligence – and conversely those who had made the choice to live lives of evil were punished. And the people in Nineveh definitely fell into the ‘evil that needs to be punished’ category. But as Jonah’s life begins to ebb away, his questions and beliefs begin to change. His thoughts begin to move away from right and wrong and move toward God. He remembers the temple, the place where sacrifices are made for the sins of man – and realizes that as much as he wants to believe that he has lived a just life, the truth is that he stands as much in need of forgiveness as Nineveh. The questions of life have changed.

If there is a failure for Jonah, it is that the lessons learned in the belly of the whale do not stay with him. As soon as he is delivered from danger, he also seems to leave the hard questions he asked ‘when his life was ebbing away.’ It is a danger for all of us. And success often involves the discipline of asking the important questions of life before the time comes when the important also becomes the critical.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jonah 3 & 4

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) message "Caught in the Act" from the series "I Married a Prostitute" is now available on the VantagePoint website. You can find it here.