Our character will change according to time, environment, education. -In our spiritual faith, we also need to progress from the time we baptize through constant studying of the bible and words of God, prayers and through the infilling of the holy spirit.

-Let’s study the bible characters in the bible.

1) Jonah

-Jonah 1: 1-3 The word of God came to Jonah. God told him to preach to the people of Nineveh. However Jonah flee to Tarshish as he did not want to preach to the enemies and did not want to follow God’s command.

-Jonah 4:2 Jonah was angry for he felt that God was merciful and would not have punished the people of Nineveh.

-Jonah was a prophet and the people of Nineveh was evil. If Jonah went there, how would the people of Nineveh react? Would they listen to him?

-If he goes to the people of Nineveh and warned them that God will destroy the city for 3 days and yet at the end God had mercy and did not destroy the city. This gave him a bad reputation that he is as if a false prophet.

-In actual fact, it was not like that. Because of Jonah preaching, the people of Nineveh did actually repent.

-Jonah 1:4 , 15 God sent a great wind so that ship threatened to break up. When the people threw Jonah out of the ship, God prepared a big fish to swallow him. Jonah faced a lot of hardship and chastisement.

-Similarly in today’s life, Christians know what is the right thing to do and yet do not want to obey God’s commandments. In the end due to the disobedience of God’s commands later received chastisement.

-A brother kept on declining to become a preacher and kept on postponing his call. He was not willing to take up this call until he met an accident of which his car turned turtle. At that moment the only thought that came was the calling of God to become a preacher. He quickly said God I will become a preacher and immediately the car stop standstill.

-Heb 12:5 Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises whom he loves.

-A member decided to watch a special program in TV during Sabbath day and was punished by God. If you are loved by God, you will face some chastisement and sufferings but we need to remember that God loves those he disciplines

-We have to reflect whether we are like Jonah where we do not want to follow God’s commands.

2) Moses

-Ex 3:7-10,11 When God called Moses, God wanted Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. When he was young, he had the zeal to deliver the people of Israelites.

-Because he killed an Egyptian, he had to flee from Egypt and flee to the wilderness. After 40 years in the wilderness, he had totally changed.

-Ex 4:1, 10, 13 Moses kept on providing excuses to God to reject God’s command.

-At the age of 80, Moses had no confidence and was overly humble to keep on rejecting God’s calling.

-Ex 4:14 God was angry. After providing a lot of solutions yet Moses still declined.

-In church when we are requested to take up a duty, do we keep on declining? Do we not think that someone else is better to take up this duty just like Moses who felt Aaron is more capable.

-Why did God become angry? God actually can find someone else to replace Moses easily. This is because God wanted Moses and no one else.

-Sometimes in church when we are assigned a task, do we take up the task? This is still up to us although there are many who and may be able to do better.

-Eg there was a faithful deacon who did not reject a last minute work given to him to give seminar in the IY camp . This shows the good attitude of receiving any work without rejecting.

3) Jacob

-Genesis 25:21 The twins struggled within the womb of Rebecca. When they were born, the younger twin baby grabbed hold of the heel of his older brother. His name was called Jacob which means to grab hold.

-Gen 25:29-34 The first thing that Jacob wanted to grab hold was his brother’s birthright which entitled him to blessings from his father.

-Gen 29 Later Jacob caught hold of a beautiful woman Rachel. Although Jacob managed to grab hold of the things he desired, but at the end, he sacrificed much to obtain his pursuits.

-When he stole the birthright of his brother, Esau, his relationship with his brother was severed. He had to flee from his home and never saw his beloved mother again.

-He wanted Rachel. Laban promised him to give Rachel if he worked 7 years. After 7 years instead of giving Rachel, Laban gave Leah during the marriage night and he had to serve a total of 14 years to obtain Rachel.

-Gen 31:41 Jacob worked for Laban a total of 20 years and served him 14 years for his 2 daughters, 6 years for the flock and his wages changed 10 times.

-In his life, he continued to pursue and wanted to grab everything. In the end, he sacrificed much. However, God continued to preserve Jacob.

-In our life of faith, although we believe in God, we continue to pursue after a comfortable living, material things, luxury. If we continue to pursue after achieving all these, we may sacrifice much at the end.

-We may have a beautiful house, if not for the protection of God, we are blessed with a beautiful family.

-When we reflect the character of the bible, are we like them? Are we like Jacob keep on pursuing things of the world or are we like Abraham, Isaac.

-These characters are for us to learn. Are we like Jacob, Jonah? If we are like them, then we need to change quickly. God loves them and in their life, they faced many hardships and chastisement. At the end, God still love them and preserve them.