Saying "Yes" to Jesus is The Signal time in our lives, a time that we deliberately center our hearts and lives on following Jesus, true God and true man and wholeheartedly embracing both the Ten Commandments and Jesus' Law of Love. The time when we turn away from sin and embrace the Gospel. It is the time when we make the most life-changing choice of our lives, a choice to allow God to give us grace - His very life - so that we can see that God is Reality and everything that the "world" thinks of as real happiness - cars, clothes, big houses, technological marvels - are insubstantial shadows.
Lisa Sharon Harper (photo below) is "Sojourner" magazine's chief church engagement officer, and she has a very vivid memory of the night when, as a high schooler, she said "Yes" to Jesus at a camp revival. (see below)
" Soon, I felt sobs well up from somewhere deep in my own soul. It was like something in my spirit threw up its hands and said to God: 'Okay, you win. I'm not going to fight any more. I give up.' It was a giving up of control, of the need to be the master of my own fate, of the need to earn my own heaven. Then it was even more. As I sobbed alongside my friend, we were surrounded by old ladies who comforted us. It was a strange feeling - it felt like a spiritual homecoming, like old souls ushering younger ones through a threshold to a spiritual place called 'home.'....As tears fell on the wooden altar, I felt surrounded by the heart of God. I knew God loved me....That night was about power - the power of Jesus' resurrection from the dead to reverse the Fall here on earth and in the afterlife." ("Sojourners," June 2016.)
Even if we believe we are following God's Law, and maybe especially if we were baptized as infants, there still needs to be a time in our lives - it need only last for a few minutes - when our hearts say directly to God - "Okay, you win - I will follow you, and I ask you to show me your will for my life every day of my life." Otherwise we have only an external faith, a series of actions, even good actions, that we perform for God without ever really knowing Who God is, and without asking Him into the deepest part of who we are. God desires to have our hearts, as He has given us His heart - a beating heart in the body of His Son Jesus.
Yet, even that minute of saying "Yes" to God is not enough. As a husband and wife need to say "I love you" to each other every day, and mentally pledge themselves to their marriage every day, so we need to say "I love you" to God every day, and pledge ourselves anew to follow in the footsteps of His Son. And that can be hard. Painful. Heart-breaking.
You have been diagnosed with a serious illness. Or someone you love has died. Or your spouse has left you. Or a child is born with disabilities. Or financially you're in trouble. Mentally you fight it; this can't be real. It's earth-shattering. Yet somehow, you find the courage to focus completely on God and you're suddenly saying "Okay. You win. I'm not going to fight any more. I give up. I give up control of my life to You. I choose to trust that You love me and that You will carry me through this. Because I know that I'm not enough. I need You."
And even saying "Yes" to God day after day doesn't mean that we change and are made whole instantly. How well God knows our frailty, our volcanic emotions, our minds which can only understand so much at a time! After all, that's how God made us! So our God is patient with us and works quietly, gradually within us so that each one of us grows at our own pace. How wonderful and all-embracing God is! The breath of the Father keeps us alive at every moment. The Son is the Morning Star Who never sets, lighting our way even in the darkness of our traumas and tragedies. The Holy Spirit pours gifts over us, God's beloved, even at night while we sleep. Lisa Sharon Harper has especially experienced God as Healer and the One Who reveals our hidden negative and/or limited attitudes. She says,
"My problems, issues, and brokenness weren't all taken away that night (the night of her altar call). But something real, something transformative happened at that altar. I entered back into relationship with God, through the person of Jesus. In the decades since, God has revealed the presence and impact of broken relationships in my life. God has revealed a deep sense of self-hatred and shame, as well as broken relationships with men that stem from childhood abuse. God revealed a penchant for over-consumption and disregard for the rest of creation. God revealed hopelessness for the healing of my fractured family, as well as the reality of my social, economic, and political status as an African American in the U.S. and within the evangelical church. God also revealed my American privilege on the global stage." ("Sojourners")
Say "Yes" to Jesus. Your life may change dramatically, but more realistically, it will change gradually and subtly. Yet there WILL be a change. Saying "Yes" to Jesus means that slowly you will begin to become another Christ. Once you begin to see through the eyes of Jesus, once you begin to love with His heart, your values will slowly change. You will live life at a greater depth and with greater purpose. As Jesus slowly heals your heart and your attitudes, you too will heal others, with your encouragement and your acceptance, your forgiveness and compassion. As you embrace courage to live out the values of God instead of the values of this world, you will challenge others to lay aside selfishness and self-interest, and turn away from sin to live the Gospel. You will experience a greater inner peace and joy than you ever imagined was possible. Eventually you will see the change. Your old way of life has died. Your new life in Christ is leading you on the straight path to heaven as you embrace the beauty and brokenness of the whole world.