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Introduction . The book of Jonah is the fifth in the collection called the Minor Prophets; it records the Prophet's interaction with God after the instruction to go to Nineveh, the repentance of the Ninevites and the Prophet's displeasure at God's forgiveness. Rather than a fully developed prophecy, it is an account of the experience of a prophet— more events than sermon. It is a message different from other books of the Old Testament in its portrayal of God as interested in other nations apart from Israel; it also discusses the themes of God's purpose and human will; judgement and forgiveness all in the context of the super abounding grace of God. With only four chapters, the book divides into four major parts: first, God's Commission and the Prophet's Disobedience ( Jon1:1-17 ); second, the Prophet's Repentance and God's Deliverance ( Jon2:1-10 ); third, God's Commission and the Prophet's Obedience ( Jn3:1-10 ) and the fourth part is th

Background Some couple of days ago, I was reminded of Jonathan Tropper's dramatic comedy — This is Where I Leave You and how the protagonist, Judd Foxman was devastated when on his wife's thirty third birthday he hoping to bring her a surprise birthday cake found her sleeping with his boss on their matrimonial bed. Talk about devastating. That kind of story grabs your attention and forces you to really ask yourself, how much can one forgive? In the words of Charles R Swindoll, "Live long enough, and you will understand the difficulty of offering forgiveness when you have been wronged. It does not come easy, yet as believers, we have to recognize that our ability and willingness to offer it are the result of Christ’s saving work on the cross." Forgiveness — the God-kind of forgiveness is expected from the believer and this is the core message of Paul's epistle to Philemon. In this epistle, Paul asks Philemon, a wealthy Christian to forgive and receive bac