A few weeks ago, I was struck by a conversation I had with a dear friend. She was sharing her testimony with me, and telling me how her entire life changed in one split-second: the moment she said yes to Jesus Christ.
I saw this happen several years ago, when my Uncle gave his life to the Lord. For years, he had seen my Dad, the first believer in his family, grow in his walk with God. He watched as his sons and then his ex-wife were transformed by God's grace after they each accepted Him. He watched as my Dad led my grandmother to the Lord at the ripe old age of 85, only to join the Father three years later. He saw their brother begin to attend church with his wife and give his life to Christ. But my Uncle still refused to believe… until he couldn't deny the knocking of the Holy Spirit any further. When my Uncle said yes, his entire life was transformed. The next time I saw him, it was as if the edge that had marked his entire life had dissolved. Instead, my Uncle was "a new creation in Christ: the old had gone, the new had come," and the peace and joy that characterized his life was truly remarkable. And all of that started with the power of one word. Yes.
Last Sunday, I was struck by a quote that went something along the lines of: "It takes a single moment to change your life, but it takes an entire lifetime to learn how to live that life." I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I can't remember who exactly said that. Still, the the point that has stuck in my mind since then is that it really does just take one moment for someone to move from death to life. It takes a single response. And the ripple effect that that single response makes echoes through eternity.
Several months ago, I felt God tell me that it was time to leave China. What I wasn't quite prepared for was that He was also calling me to leave my job… my fellowship… and any sense of security that I had built for myself through any of these things. Through Isaiah 52:10-12, I heard the Lord call me out of where I was and into a walk of total and complete dependency on Him.
As I considered what it would mean to heed this call, my heart and my spirit cried, knowing the pain and grief of saying goodbye to the life I know now. But then I realized that He is in the midst of my life now…and He will be in the midst of the life that He is calling me to…and I couldn't help but grin and say, "Yes." Oh, the power of that one word.
II Corinthians 1:19-20 says, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you 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 Chirst. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God."
I figure, if God's promises are yes… how can I resist and not say Yes, too?
So, God, I say Yes to whatever You have for me in the coming year. I believe that You have called me to something beyond my greatest imagination. I want to walk where You walk, speak what You speak, go where You would have me go. And above all, I want to be able to hear Your voice in the stillness of the African night, or even among the raucous of a Filipino mall… and I want to be able to say "Yes, Lord."
