Back from Texas, here’s yesterday morning’s devotion, just a day late. It comes from Paul Walker.
For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. (2 Corinthians 1:19-20, ESV)
“Yes” is a gracious word. Yes, please come in. Yes, please stay for dinner. Yes, I would love to go with you. Yes, of course, take all the time you need.
“No” is a forbidding word. No, you may not come. No, there isn’t room for you. No, I’m too busy. No, it was due yesterday.
Human beings are both Yes and No. Most children learn to nod “yes” and shake their heads “no” before their first birthdays. The Beatles sang, “You say yes, I say no, you say stop, and I say go, go, go, oh no!” We are a thousand different people every day.
And in our world of subterfuge, denial, mixed messages and motivations, we often say “yes” while shaking our head “no.” Have you ever considered responding to an invitation you dread by saying, “I’d love to… but I really don’t want to?” I’m hoping one day to have the courage to say that instead of saying, “That would be great. I’ll just check my calendar at home.” Of course, I’m always a no-show.
I am like the first son in Jesus’ parable about the father who sends his boys to work in the vineyard. The first says, “Yes” and then doesn’t go, and the second says, “no” and then goes to work. With human beings, it is always “yes” and “no,” often at the same time.
But in Jesus it is always Yes, as the Apostle Paul tells us. Jesus is God’s Yes to a world that has for once spoken a resounding and univocal “NO!” to Him. No, God, we don’t want you. No, God, we’d rather run our own show. No, God, go away. Our “no,” of course, found its final expression in the nails and spear and thorns of the cross. Our “no” killed God.
But God says “Yes” anyway. All the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus. To us, the naysayers, God says, “Yes, please come in. Yes, please stay for the banquet. Yes, I know all about who you are and what you’ve done and what you’ve been trying to hide. And Yes, I love you now and always.”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrowi4hHz8A&w=500]
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2 responses to “Hopelessly Devoted: Second Corinthians Chapter One Verse Nineteen and Twenty”
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Thanks, Paul Walker, I love this. One of the most defining messages I’ve ever heard was PZ’s talk Always Yes and Never No. I think that we think that we get the Yes; but when we hear “never no”, we see fully the promise as absolutely unbreakable.
Even the OT portrays God as the One who says, “Yes.” I think we may lose that in some of our newer translations, but my favorite is the KJV rendering of Isaiah 41:10: Fear thou not for I am with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; YES, I will help thee; YES, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”