Yes Men (and Women)

Posted by Christian St John in Faithblogs | 0 comments

[audio:YES.mp3|titles=Yes Men (and Women)|artists=Christian St John]
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Last evening I watched the movie Yes Man starring Jim Carrey. Although not his finest work (I can think of several better Carrey vehicles right off the bat) the movie did get me to thinking about the word “yes.” The movies premise is that Carrey’s character makes a covenant with a self-help guru to always say yes whenever a situation presented itself – no matter what. So he spends the majority of the movie saying yes to all kinds of weird and way out (and even unethical) things.

But the movie left me intrigued as to the word “yes.” Let’s face it “yes” is an important word to a believer; whenever someone comes to faith in Jesus they have first said “yes” to Jesus’ offer of salvation. Try getting saved by saying no or maybe, I don’t think either of those words will cut it on the Day of Judgment. “Yes Jesus I accept your offer.” “Yes Jesus you are Lord.” “Yes I give you my life.” Sound familiar? It should, if not maybe you need to ask yourself, “have I actually said yes to Jesus?” I call this the all important “yes” – that first step into a “saved” life.

However, from my experience this is one of the only times a believer will ever truly say “yes” to God. Sure most Christians meet with other believers and have said “yes” to going to church, but how many of those believers when asked volunteer for the ministry needs within those churches? How many say “yes” to helping with outreach programs, kids groups, and Sunday school. How many will give of their time and money to help out with a whole host of needs that present themselves every day of every week in our communities?

How are we any different to the world in this regard – it’s easy to say “yes” when there’s something to gain (like salvation) but not so easy to do when there’s something to give. And I’m not just talking about giving away our stuff, money and time here, although this is important. But when was the last time you gave yourself away on a Sunday morning saying, “yes God I am here to worship you with all that I am” instead of thinking when is this ever going to end? or “yes I am here to listen to what your spirit has to say into my life” instead of thinking about the Sunday roast?

It’s important that we not take this idea too far as we can’t always say “yes” due to personal reasons, family issues, and danger of burnout. However, what I all too often see in church circles is the same people doing all of the ministry, all of the time. I see people running themselves ragged because there’s no one else who has stepped up to the plate and said “yes.” Imagine a baseball game where there are only two people playing, one batting and running and one pitching and fielding. If they are good players it could be fun to watch for a short while, that is until their steam runs out. What then?

Have you ever been in church service listening to the pastor speak about the various needs in the church and thought “I could do that” only to say “no” by keeping your hands by your side? Have you ever had that prompting by the Spirit to witness into someone’s life and yet said “no” by your silence? Have you ever walked past someone who is homeless and said “no” by keeping a tight grip on your wallet? I could go on but it all boils down to this, has God said “go” and you’ve said “no”? Has God said “help them” but you’ve said “no”? Has God said “yes” and you’ve said “no”?

The word “yes” can be a powerful word. Don’t believe me? Then try saying “yes” to God and watch as he works in your life like you never thought possible. I once said “no” to God and it wasn’t until I said “yes” that everything God had planned for me began to become reality. I could tell you story upon story about how God has worked in my life because of that one small word. I didn’t really like the movie Yes Man but I will borrow an idea from it; that when we begin to say yes, at first it may seem forced and probably will be. However, over time it gets easier and we will find that our lives have become all the better because of it.

As I mentioned above there will still be times when we will have to say “no” because of timing or ethical issues. But I cannot think of one good reason why we would say anything but “yes” to God. You know, we give much lip service saying that we want to live out God’s will for our lives, that we want to see those around us saved, that we want the love and work of God to spread out around this world hoping that many will be saved. Well it all begins with one word… YES!

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
August, 2009