God has allowed me to live long enough to realize the difference between a “yes” and a “purposeful yes”. Have you ever said ‘yes’ to something or someone, but you didn’t really mean it? You know, those yeses where you agreed just because you were trying to be polite but not because you were interested. These kinds of yeses are the ones that often turn into unexpected “noes”. We have all been there because we are humans, and we do it mostly with our friends, extended family, spouses, and children. However, there are some yeses we know better not to mess with because we feel like our lives depend on it, such as a yes for a job interview, an important business meeting, an event, or something significant we are trying to accomplish. God desires a purposeful yes from us especially concerning His Kingdom. A purposeful yes is not a self-centered response but rather an other-centered response. This matters to God so much that when the time is right, He will pull you away to negotiate on a one-on-one basis to get you to decide and to understand the importance of your yes to Him before He even takes you to a certain level. We have multiple examples in the Bible where God calls His servants to leave the familiar and to enter a season of preparation with Him concerning their purpose. Jesus asked a man to follow Him, and the man wanted to do his own thing first, and Jesus replied: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:61-62). I don’t think Jesus was trying to scare or manipulate the man to get a response from him, but He was trying to help him realize the importance of what he was stepping into; thus, the importance of his yes.
Now, let’s consider briefly the importance of Jesus’ ‘yes’. Whether we realize it or not, Jesus is our only hope. When we look at what is happening in the world today, we can see that anyone outside of Jesus’ jurisdiction is just experimenting in life (lost) because we cannot do anything without Him. So, let’s suppose that Jesus selfishly told His Father ‘No’ concerning coming to this earth to save humanity. Can you imagine what life would have been like? There wouldn’t even be such a thing as being clothed in our right mind today, let alone knowing about prayer. There wouldn’t be the presence of the Holy Spirit living within us either. So, if we think we have seen the worst today, imagine the world without the Holy Spirit for a second. All of us would end up killing each other with no mercy and no remorse because it is the Holy Spirit who keeps us in our right mind. Therefore, Jesus’ yes, is the greatest gift humanity will ever experience yet it was the most painful experience for Jesus.
Today, we can talk about many great leaders of the faith, Jesus being number one. And the reason we even have the Bible is because of their ‘yes’ by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in them and through them. Some of these leaders were Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Daniel, Matthew, Peter, John, Paul. And let’s not forget other great leaders like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Billy Graham, Kathryn Kuhlman, Corrie Ten Boom, and countless others. We have seen the importance of their ‘yes’ and how they’ve changed the course of history because they said yes. And just like Jesus, they suffered much pain, though their pain cannot be compared to Jesus’s suffering. Nonetheless, many of them had to leave their family, deny their selfish desires, lose some great opportunity, and some even lost their own lives for the sake of God’s Truth. Yet, what God has done through them because of their ‘yes’ is still relevant, remarkable and life changing today. God has established their work and wouldn’t let us forget about them. God always has a people to pick up from where they’ve left off.
Now let’s consider your yes for a moment. You’re probably asking, “My, yes?” and the answer is “Yes, your yes!”. You see, every day you show up for your kids, family, job, or business meeting, and the likes, you are saying yes. Believe it or not, God is intentional about your life even though it may not often seem or feel like it. Please understand and do not think for a second that your life is random or an experiment. I thought so too! But let me tell you that your ‘yes’ is significant to God indeed.
I cannot even tell you how many seasons in my life where I have given God a yes and could barely keep up with it. I have seen Him sustaining me through those seasons with the saving might of His righteous right hand. And I have seen Him use my feeble yes to bring down fortified walls. I am here to tell you when you give God your yes, He values it because it is important to Him. God is not limited to your yes. However, He desires to use you to change the communities, nations, and the world. Sometimes you may think your yes is limited to your job or family, forgetting that God is always on the move. It also means that your current yes is always a means to an end. It is a yes that will lead you to a bigger yes. It feels as if we are always in a preparation season with God because He always has more. He has more blessings, more grace, more exposure, more of Him and more to reveal to you about you.
Today we are tired of saying yes to our selfish desires and seeking to please others for our selfish gain while we keep saying no to God. We have discovered that this kind of achievement leaves us feeling empty. A void that only God can fulfill. For instance, we yearn to see peace in the educational, political, and economic system because we are tired of listening to the bad news. We want to feel safe and seek the next best person to take over. But what if I told you that the real change you’re looking for, is connected to your yes to God. He is willing to bring heaven on earth through you. Therefore, your ‘yes’ can allow God’s power to manifest and change the course of history just like our previous great leaders did. So please answer God’s call for your life to help save another soul for Jesus.
God bless you!
SCRIPTURES
“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” Matthew 5:37
“But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me and Silas and Timothy was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, but in Him it has always been ‘Yes’. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so, through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” 2 Corinthians 1:18-20
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