God's ultimate YES
God's ultimate YES
His promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes"!
“For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ … As God’s ultimate ‘Yes,’ he always does what he says. For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ, our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory.” 2 Corinthians 1: 19-20
A group of adults was once asked, “What quote has affected your life more than any other?” Answers ranged from “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” to “Just say no.” One man’s answer was a single word.
“Yes.”
How could a quote like that change someone’s life?
The man explained: “I once asked a guy in my math class if he wanted to hang out. He said, ‘Yes,’ and he remains my best friend to this day. Years later, I fell in love with a woman and asked her to marry me. I’ll never forget when she said, ‘Yes,’ and made my dreams come true with one word.”
The man continued. “I found a pregnancy test on the bathroom sink one day. I asked my wife if we were going to have a baby. With a bright beam on her face, she cried out, ‘Yes!’ The birth of my daughter taught me what unconditional love really is.”
“In fact,” the man concluded, “though I’m sure several of my ‘No’s helped shape my life in a positive way, it’s been the ‘Yes’es I’ve received that have truly changed my life.”
Yes is probably the single most positive word in our language. It has the power to immediately bring us bliss. We love to say it. We love to hear it. Yes changes things.
As the man said, No is crucial for guarding ourselves from trouble. But Yes opens the doors to life’s most wonderful experiences, and none are more important than our relationship with Christ.
That’s why the writer of 2 Corinthians calls the Son of God our YES. He tells us that all of God’s promises are YES through Jesus our Lord.
Think about it. The world was in darkness, captive to sin and death. Then Jesus appeared, sharing His life and love, saying YES to a new beginning, and splitting history in two.
Today we look at the world’s evil and pray for God to make it right (“Thy kingdom come, Lord”). And how do we want Him to accomplish this? Isn’t it by judging and punishing the wicked? In our secret hearts, we want God to say NO to those we deem responsible. But God, being higher and more loving than us, offers a dark world the YES of His love through the Cross. That is precisely how I was transformed from one of the wicked to one of the redeemed.
When I was a teenager, my life was No. My mother had died. My brother had moved away. I was alone, anxious, depressed, and empty. Then I opened my heart to the Lord, and suddenly everything was YES. I felt the YES of being loved. I felt the YES of peace that passes understanding. I felt the YES of having my life infused with joy, meaning, and significance. Every day since then has continued to be YES.
People wrongly think Christianity is a No religion, filled with “Thou Shalt Nots.” Sadly, they miss the YES God lavishes upon us. There are guardrails that can look like No when viewed from the shadows, but they are only there to keep us focused on the YES that is God’s love, grace, mercy, and guidance.
Unfortunately, a YES denied is the same as a No. Each of us must open our hearts and say YES to the love that God offers us through the YES of Jesus Christ.
Graceful contemplation
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
— E.E. Cummings
Thank you for reading!
Among many memorable moments in March was this review of my book Shadow Point Skies, written by my wonderful students Ivy and Suzanna (who is also my niece). It appeared in Stroll Old Village magazine. It’s the best review I’ll ever get!
As always, thank you so much for reading!
Lovely.