The book of Jonah is about a missionary God and His desire for His people to have missionary hearts. A missionary heart desires for those who don’t know God to have a chance to respond to Him, hear His good news, and know He wants them to live in a relationship with Him. This kind of heart is so important because one-third of the people on our planet have never heard the name of Jesus or had the opportunity to say yes or no to him.

Scripture teaches us that we are lost without Jesus. Lost in our sin. Lost in our spiritual confusion and futile desires to find true meaning in life. And, even more importantly, lost from an eternal relationship with Jesus in this life and the next life. There is such a thing as heaven and hell. There is life with God and life without God. And the choice we make makes all the difference. But to make that choice, someone has to tell us there is a choice. 

Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:9-15. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

We are blessed to live in a country where access to the Gospel is commonplace. But we live in a world where that is not the case. Having traveled the world for most of my life, I have encountered how God is changing lives in every corner of our globe when there are people who are willing to go and share the Good news. That is what missionaries do! It is what Paul and Barnabus did in the New Testament. And it is what my parents did when they moved to Hong Kong in 1960. I saw firsthand what happened when the Gospel came to people who had not heard the Good news. 

In Egypt, there are cities called “garbage cities.” Like in Cairo, these cities are made up of the people who collect garbage and become the recyclers of that garbage. The trash is collected and spread out in their little villages up to the waist around their makeshift homes. Goats forage through and eat the food, and anything that can be recycled and sold is put into piles. Kids and adults all work in the garbage. Sanitation is almost non-existent, and everything in the makeshift home comes from the trash. Income may be two dollars a day which buys food.

Yet there is hope in this village. Egyptian Christians have established a school, clinic, and playground that is clean and safe. I have a picture of a wonderful family standing outside their home, with garbage all around, smiles on their faces, and a newborn baby in the arms of the mother. They are one of the few Christian families in the village, and their joy comes from their relationship with Jesus. Someone came and shared the good news, and they are the recipients of God’s goodness now and for eternity.

Never underestimate the investment in God’s work worldwide, especially investments that train indigenous leaders globally to do what they can do in their context better than we can. This is what people with missionary hearts do. It is why God asked Jonah to preach in Nineveh. You can help change lives for eternity through your efforts, financial commitments, and participation in God’s global work.

Father, thank you for your heart for people who have never heard of your goodness and love. Thank you for allowing me to help share the good news. Give me a missionary heart f