Yes or No?
My little boy, 20 months old, is learning words every day. But two of the ones we hear most often are ‘yes’ and ‘no’. “Do you want to go to the park?” “YEEESSS!” “It’s time to go home now.” “NOOOO!”
Sometimes it’s really brutal. “Do you want to give Daddy a cuddle?” “No.” Oof!
‘Yes’ and ‘No’ are the fabric that make up every decision we take. Will we say yes to something or no? Will we accept it or reject it? Will we celebrate it or disregard it? Yes or no?
There’s a chapter in my book called ‘Don’t be a big baby’. In it, I encourage us not just to remain as we were when God found us but to grow up into the mature, experienced disciples he wants us to be. My little boy will grow up, and there’ll come a time when I’ll expect him not just to make decisions not just based on his instinctive feelings (park good, home bad) but based on what is right or wrong, wise or unwise, helpful or unhelpful.
Are you a natural ‘yes person’ or ‘no person’?
I think that a lot of us have a default. Some of us are cup-half-full, try-everything-once, give-it-a-go type people. We don’t need a good reason to say ‘yes’ to something. Everything is an opportunity, life is full of wonderful things if we’ll just say ‘yes’ and give them a chance. It’s a curious, positive, optimistic mindset.
But some of us are cup-half-empty, what-if-it-goes-wrong, stick-with-what-you-know, type people. We are more likely to disregard something, see the downside, expect the worst in new things, people and opportunities. Everything is a chance for things to go wrong so it’s safer to say ‘no’. It’s a cautious, skeptical and more pessimistic mindset.
So which is right? Well, I want to suggest that if we look at the big picture of the life of Jesus, we have to be both. Weren’t expecting me to say that? Read on!
Jesus says ‘Yes’ and so should we!
Christmas is coming in a couple of months. When it does, we’ll be remembering the wonderful truth that Jesus entered the world, entered humanity itself. This is God himself, the Prince of Heaven, not staying far away, not keeping his distance, not playing it safe. He chooses to embrace human life SO MUCH that he took it on himself.
That is a massive ‘yes’ to this world. ‘Yes’ to humanity. ‘Yes’ to you.
Jesus knows the world was messed up. But he also knows that, when it was made, it was ‘very good’. So he says yes to its goodness and enters in. Jesus knows humanity was messed up. But he also knows that people are made in God’s image. So he says yes to humanity’s goodness and enters in. He declares ‘yes’!
A follower of Jesus, embodying his attitude to the world, is not someone who keeps apart from everything and uses the fear that things might go wrong as an excuse to stay out of everything. You should expect there to be good in this world. You should expect there to be good in you. Jesus saw it enough to become like you. Writing off everything as a risk and adopting pessimism as an unthinking outlook is not what following Jesus looks like.
Jesus says ‘No’ and so should we!
But I’ve not presented the full picture. Christmas does not stand alone. Easter was needed. When we celebrate that, we remember that same Prince of Heaven, God himself, nailed to a cross bearing the sins of the world. Because this world is broken. Because you and I are sinful. The value he places on you and me is so deep that he said ‘Yes’ to us and drew near, but the cross is divine ‘No’ to all those things which are not good, which corrupt his image in us.
That is a massive ‘no’ to parts of this world. ‘No’ to sinful humanity. ‘No’ to your sin.
Jesus knows the world was meant to be good, but he also sees the horrors even more clearly than we do. So he is pierced to make it whole. Jesus knows we were made in God’s likeness, but he also sees all the ways we distort and betray that. So his blood is poured out so we can be filled again. He declares ‘no’ over sin.
A follower of Jesus, embodying his attitude to the world, is not someone who embraces, affirms, endorses and believes in the good of everything and everyone. You should expect there to be bad in this world. You should expect there to be bad in you. Jesus saw it enough to die for you. Calling everything beautiful and adopting optimism as an unthinking outlook is not what following Jesus looks like.
I’m not proposing some kind of mushy middle. Christmas is a whole-hearted ‘YES!’ to all that is good. The cross is a whole-hearted ‘NO!’ to sin and all it corrupts. To mature in Jesus isn’t to sit on the fence. It is to let our embrace of the beauty of this world look more like his, and to let our full-throated rejection of everything broken look more like his.
If you always say yes, why is that? If you always say no, why is that? And for the very things you’re working through now (the big and the little), what is Jesus saying as you pray and ponder?