It’s easy to see why God provided the vine for Jonah. God is good. All good gifts come from Him. But why did God send the worm and the wind? What possible good could come from that?

It’s helpful to understand two important Bible words: Justification is how God forgives us through Jesus. Sanctification is how God makes us like Jesus. The first is an event, the second is a process.

God provides for our sanctification through gifts that bring joy, trials that bring sorrow, and experiences that bring pain. God used the worm and the wind to save Jonah from a vine-centred life—from loving God’s gifts more than the God who gives them.

Here are two signs that you may be living a vine-centred life:

1. You are angry with God
“I do well to be angry, angry enough to die” (4:9). Jonah was first angry about Nineveh (4:4). And now, the anger is back. The vine masked Jonah’s problem. Family, friends, money, and success can do that. But, if your greatest joy is in the vine, you will live a vine-centred life. And when the vine is gone, you will be angry toward God.

2. You are losing your reason to live
“It is better for me to die” (4:8). Jonah found such comfort and joy in the vine that when it was gone he no longer felt he had a reason to live. The extraordinary thing is that Jonah is saying this to God who is the reason to live! If your greatest joy lies in God’s gifts rather than in God Himself, then when the gift you cherish most withers, you will lose your reason to live. The reason to live is not the gifts but the Giver.

Do you see any signs that you may have slipped into living a vine-centred life?