A company recently went through the routine of updating its operating system to better prevent security breaches. Unfortunately, this update contained a software bug that caused their system to go offline. This small issue became global news because the malfunction caused a global IT outage, which grounded and delayed over 38,000 flights worldwide. Although this small bug was primarily the company’s problem, thousands of people also suffered its consequences. This situation is a good example of how impactful collateral damage can be.

We cannot escape being affected by someone else’s actions. Consider the sailors in the book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet commanded by God to preach to the city of Nineveh. He thought Nineveh didn’t deserve God’s mercy because its citizens were Israel’s greatest enemy. So he decided to run away from his call by hopping on a ship and sailing away to the opposite side of the Mediterranean Sea. As a result, God sent a huge storm that would force Jonah to be thrown overboard and be swallowed by a huge fish.

Jonah blatantly rejected God’s will, and these sailors were put into a life-threatening situation. How was that fair? The sailors were just doing their job. Now they faced death all because Jonah had sinned against God! What made this situation even worse was that Jonah revealed himself as a prophet of the God who, because of Jonah’s betrayal, was causing the storm: “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. … I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you” (Jonah 1:9,12).

If social media existed at that time, I could see one of the sailors’ online posts becoming widely popular as he ranted about how the God of Israel and his followers were a danger to society. Believers reading his post would shake their heads and say, “Good job, Jonah. You’re making all of Israel look bad!”

Christ has called us as his ambassadors to glorify his name and spread the good news of salvation. But sometimes those who bear the name Christian damage the Christian faith and, even more tragically, God’s name. Some Christians carry the name of the Lord as an assault weapon, using it to attack others with the law and threats of damnation. Then when another Christian comes along with the message of salvation, they are met with scorn as these victims further deepen their hatred for Christianity and, even worse yet, for Christ. Our Lord suffers great collateral damage when we do not honor him and his will. “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth” (1 John 1:6).

I admit I get mad when I see people walking in darkness yet claiming to be in the light. “Why should I be punished when another person misuses God’s Word? They sinned, and now I have to clean up the mess.” Yet at the same time, the Holy Spirit knocks down my pride when he tells me, “Isn’t that exactly what Jesus did for you? How often has Jesus picked up after the messes you make with your sin?” It’s true. Jesus is not obligated to hear our cries of mercy after we have repeatedly rejected him. God has every right to capsize our lives and allow us to be swallowed whole by the fires of hell.

Yet our holy Lord, in perfect love, allowed himself to be consumed by God’s wrath. Praise God; his grace does not stop there! “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). At the appointed time, Jesus took up his life once again and assured us our sins are hurled into the depths of the sea. The sacrificial love our Savior displayed on the cross is a direct blow to our sins and deals great collateral damage to how we prioritize our lives. We no longer want to run away from our calling as servants of God. Rather, we run headlong into this world, properly equipped with an attitude of love, with the assurance that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Live out your faith knowing you carry a grace that impacts the world in ways you can’t imagine. Mirror the love God has so graciously given you so that the collateral impact of God’s grace may affect others and so God will be glorified through it.