Here’s the craziest part of Jonah’s whole story. When the people of Nineveh turned back to God and God forgave them, Jonah got mad. And listen to why: “I knew it! I knew You were gracious and merciful and full of love and slow to get angry!”

Read that again. He’s using God’s very best qualities against Him. It’s like getting upset at your mom for being too kind.

What was really going on? Jonah wanted God’s mercy for himself, but not for people he didn’t like. Even his words give him away: he said “it is better for me.” Me, me, me! He was more worried about his own feelings than about an entire city full of people who had just been saved.

We do this more than we’d like to admit. Have you ever been secretly a little bit glad when a kid you don’t like got in trouble? Ever felt annoyed when someone you’re competing with did really well? Ever wanted grace for your own mistakes but punishment and consequences for everybody else’s?

That’s Jonah’s problem in a smaller size. Paul wrote that we shouldn’t only look after our own interests, but also the interests of other people. That’s the exact way Jesus lived. He put everybody else ahead of Himself, all the way to the cross.

Take Action: Practice being genuinely happy for someone else today. Pick a person you sometimes compete with and celebrate something good that happened to them. Say it out loud to their face: “Hey, that was a great job.” Cheering for other people is a skill, and it gets easier every time you do it.