Think about all the calls we get in a day’s time. Some are important, some not so important, some just a nuisance. Many times, we don’t even want to answer the call, because it seems like every call requires something from us. Something else we have to do, or somewhere we have to go, or something that’s going to cost us something.

Let me ask you something: Is there anyone who has hurt you, used you, mistreated you, lied to you, or about you? Are there people in your life you don’t feel deserve to be loved? You know, that’s exactly how Jonah felt, when God sent him to preach to the Ninevites. That’s one call Jonah certainly didn’t want to take! It required him to do something he didn’t want to do, and go somewhere he didn’t want to go, alright.

Jonah tried to run away from his call. God had told him to go to Ninevah, which was due east; instead, he took off for Joppa, which was due west. He went exactly opposite the way God told him to go, just as far as he could in the opposite direction. Have any of you ever done that? Gone just the opposite of where God told you to go, or done the opposite of what He told you to do? We’ve all been guilty of that, haven’t we?

Jonah didn’t want to preach repentence to the Ninevites. They were a pagan nation, full of violence against God’s people and others, worshiping other gods. They did not deserve God’s love and His mercy, according to Jonah’s way of thinking! There are often people in our lives that we think do not deserve God’s love and grace and mercy. Oh, we pay lip-service, alright --- but our hearts aren’t in it. And just as God showed Jonah, the problem is in our hearts. It’s what’s inside that cause the trouble. It’s always what’s on the inside that causes the problem. When we have a rebellious heart, we think we can ignore God’s call and get by with it. Well, we all know how Jonah’s rebellion turned out. That was the first time in history that a fish caught a man, instead of the other way around!

Jonah’s rebellion didn’t affect only him--- it had a tremendous effect on the people around him --- the others in the boat. In fact, they can close to capsizing and drowning, because of Jonah. We need to realize that our rebellions affect those around us, as well as ourselves. When we ignore God’s call to love others, far too often, they will capsize and drown in the dark sea of sin.

You know, almost all the phones we have now have caller ID, so we can just ignore the calls we don’t want to take – have you ever done that? We know we have a call, but we just don’t answer it. We know it’s going to cost us something. Well, as Christians, we know we have a call to love, so, the question is this: are we going to answer the call? Because just like a lot of the phone calls we get in the course of a day, this call is going to cost us something. It’s going to require something from us; it’s going to require that we DO something – perhaps something that we don’t want to do.

Just like there have been many telephone calls I haven’t wanted to take, there have been calls from God I didn’t want to take. I’ve spent some uncomfortable times myself, when I’ve tried to run away from God’s call. For instance, when we first began having ladies Bible studies here at the church, I had never had any idea of becoming a teacher. Even when I was told by the lady who started our studies that she felt like God was calling me to teach, I had no intention of ever doing so. I tried to run away from what God was calling me to do by pretending I didn’t hear His call. I knew He was calling me to teach, but I thought my internet ministry was all that He wanted. You see, it’s much easier when it’s on the internet. You have anonymity in cyberspace. Believe me, it’s much easier when you are anonymous!

You know why I didn’t want to answer the call to be a teacher? I’m ashamed to even admit my selfishness. I didn’t want to teach, first, because teachers are held to a higher degree of accountability, according to God’s word. Also. it would require a much greater effort on my part than I wanted to make. It would take up a lot of my time. It would cost me something. So I tried to ignore the call of God on my life, rationalizing that I was teaching, through the internet. Doing it my way, instead of God’s way.

Why don’t we ever just make it easy on ourselves and do it God’s way to start with? We KNOW He is going to have His way, whether we cooperate or not. So why don’t we learn to bend our stiff necks and simply say, “Yes, Lord.” We'd sure save ourselves a lot of problems if we'd just learn to do it God's way, every time.

In the same way, God has called me to love some people that I just didn’t want to love. But here’s the thing: If we are Christians, we are called to love. There’s just no getting around it.

Do you have any Ninevites in your own life? Those people whom you just can’t love? Those people who don’t deserve God’s love and His mercy, according to your way of thinking? The ones who have hurt you, have lied to you or about you, or have plotted against you. The ones who gossip about you behind your back. In-laws who are more like outlaws, people you can’t seem to please no matter what you do. Family members who constantly criticize, condemn, and tear you down, who never have a good word to say, who seem to suck the life right out of you. It’s hard, I know, but we are called to love….. even when we do not receive love in return. Even when it seems useless. Even when it seems unfair.

If we are honest, we’d admit that most of the time, we want to share our love with those who love us, those who “deserve” our love. We don’t want to love those who have brought us grief, or suffering. We don’t want to love those who have offended us in some way, or those that we consider enemies. No, like Jonah, we’d really prefer for God to just destroy them….. or at least get them out of our hair.

There are many groups of people in our society that are hard to love. Think of all the elderly people in nursing homes who have no one to show them a little touch of human kindness, day in and day out. Yes, maybe they are crotchety and cranky, maybe they are difficult, hard of hearing and hard to deal with. But God loves them, and we are called to love…….

Think of the young people who seem to be in rebellion against everything. Tattoos, body piecings, strange clothing, all black leather and chains. Some of them scare you half to death …..they seem to hate everyone and everything. But God loves them, and we are called to love…..

What about the homeless people who wander the streets, wearing rags for clothes, unshaved, unbathed, unbrushed, and smelling like yesterday’s garbage, with a strong odor of alcohol on top of it all. Yes, They are smelly and undesirable, but God loves them. And we are also called to love…….

Or think about those spending their days behind bars, just marking time. Criminals, hoping to beat the system. Hoping for anything to shorten their sentence, knowing they don’t deserve mercy, that they gotten exactly what they deserve. You know, the worst thing in the world is getting what we deserve. Somehow nothing makes us angrier than getting what we deserve. They may be sullen, disrespectful, sarcastic, or downright mean and hateful, but God loves them… and we are called to love.

Some people just don’t like anyone else who is different in any way… anyone too fat, too old, different skin color, different race or nationality, different religions……But we are called to love…..

Think of all the lost and rejected people in our society. Drunks, drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, gang members, those in mental hospitals, or the mentally or physically handicapped, …. The list is long and varied. God loves each and every one of the people we consider the dregs of humanity. He doesn’t love their sins, but He loves them every bit as much as He love you and me. And if we call ourselves Christians, we are called to love them, too.

We are so wrapped up in ourselves most of the time, we don’t feel a Christ-like love for the misfits and rejects around us. Many times, we don’t even have a Christ-like love toward those in our immediate environment – some of our own family members, our in-laws and our out-laws - far less those outside of our little circle. Far too often we don’t have a Christ-like love for those around us who are suffering, for those with problems far beyond our ability to help. It makes us uncomfortable. So we try to ignore the call.

Loving others is what sets Christians apart from all the other people in the world, it is our whole purpose here on this earth. Jesus was very clear about that. He said:

We are called to love. Get our minds off our own selfish wants and needs, and focus on the needs of the lost and dying world around us. It’s going to cost us something. Jesus taught us, in Luke 9:23 :

We are called to love. The only way we can do that is to deny ourselves, our own wants and feelings. And we have to do it daily, not just once or twice in a lifetime. We have to stop thinking of our own selfish ways and what we want to do, and start thinking of what God wants us to do – to love others as ourselves. To take our minds and our thoughts off of ourselves, and look at the needs of the world around us. Not just our own immediate families, although that’s certainly the place to start. But Jesus told us:

No, Jesus didn’t call us to love just those in our immediate circle, but to love all the unloved and unloveable people in the world. All the rejected, unaccepted. and unacceptable people out there. At all the lost people out there, dying and facing eternity without Jesus. If we call ourselves followers of Christ, we are called to love, because He loved us. 1 John 4:19 puts it very plainly: