Every Saturday, in an informal discipleship
setting, youths within my network in Yei gather for 3hours to discuss challenging life issues. We call this forum – The Furnace; and truly, it’s been blazing
hot for us all.
The heat generated at the last Students’
Prayer Conference in May has continued to warm our hearts as we focused on Abba’s
love for unreached peoples and especially those against us.
At that Prayer Conference, the largely unaddressed bitterness we
Southerners have for Omar
al-Bashir and his people was exposed.
The anger we feel is
understandable, as the level of wanton destruction in the south by President Bashir
and his army speak for itself. But the only
effective and lasting response to evil is love.
These youths and I have been
discussing love as central to Christian missions and ministry from the Book of Jonah and
pressing into practical demonstrations of the same.
Jonah’s consternation at the Lord’s command to go to
Nineveh resonates well with these young lads as we continue to cast our vision of taking the gospel northward.
It’s been a radical experience.
They asked, “Why did God spare Nineveh
but destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, when both Nations sinned greatly against Him?”
“Why should God allow our enemies to kill us, rape our mothers and sisters, destroy our land… and
still command us to love them…is that justice?”
The answers to these questions are not simple, especially if your scars are still fresh.
God rejoices in all His works. It is His nature to love. He can’t help Himself. He’ll never do wrong. He alone knows how to bring good from evil.
The perspectives of these
passionate folks on how best to deal with offense has been greatly challenged by the story of
Jonah. There’s
so much to learn from that story as it relates to us here in South Sudan.
Our “Nineveh” continues to hurt us
and everywhere we look, we see casualties nursing their loses with indignation,
hoping for Abba’s retribution.
Do you have a Nineveh type situation in your world? Most Christians in today’s South
Sudan and of course Nigeria, will say yes.
But what’s God saying about this Nineveh? Is
the solution… our safety, in the hands of the government? What is the
Church’s strategy for dealing with this-?
It’s doubtful the results we seek could come as
quickly as did the transformation of Jonah’s Nineveh. Most of us like Jonah, would wish for vengeance instead of salvation. How
many like Jonah, would rather die than go, or, would still go, knowing they’d be killed?
Much pain and suffering
will accompany an initial break-in, leading to an internal breakout, and
ultimately, the desired breakthrough.
When we meet tomorrow, I
will show my friends some video clips and tell them of Boko Haram’s terrorist attacks
in northern Nigeria. I’ll ask them what they’d do if such attacks happened in
our churches in South Sudan.
I’ll advise them to expect
persecution as one “good” reward for faithful service to the Lord.
We’ll feast on the rewards of
obedience, even unto death, as demanded and demonstrated by our Lord Jesus.
The Master loved us so much He
couldn’t deceive us about the sufferings we’d encounter for His fame sake. The Church
needs a long-term plan… response to the “Ninevehs” before us and especially the ones behind us.
Kingdom Exploits With Uche 