It’s Always Been “Yes”
Breaking Free from a Transactional Faith
The world we live in is full of yeses and nos. Most of the time, those yeses and no’s come with an attached string. As children, the propositions were more innocent:
We were required to finish our dinner to receive a “yes” to an after-dinner dessert.
To receive a “yes” to going out with friends, we were required to agree to return home at or before the assigned curfew.
A “no” to the question, “Do I have to clean my room or walk the dog,” required the agreed-upon trade-off of accepting a different task to do at a time to be determined.
But as an adult, I have noticed that the yeses and nos come with more requirements than surface-level exchanges. The popular term for this is a quid pro quo, a give and take of goods and services.
To receive a “yes” to my helping you with a project at work, I first need to know what’s in it for me. What am I getting out of this exchange?
Quid pro quo typically becomes scandalous for elected officials. These scandals drive home further the presumption that to receive a “yes,” there must be something in it for the one offering the yes. Though with God, it is different.
At the end of his explanation for why he was postponing his visit to Corinth, Paul makes the point that in a world full of “Yes and No,” Jesus has always said “Yes.”
God’s “Yes” to you was yours before you heard the soft voice of God in the middle of the night.
God’s “Yes” was yours before you ever picked up a bible, said a prayer, or confessed a single sin.
Too often, those outside the Church view the Church as a body of “Nos.” These “nos” are usually perceived and/or received as judgmental and exclusive. But you see, as Christ’s body, the Church is the body of God’s divine “Yes” to all of creation.
Yes, you have been made in the image of God.
Yes, the amazing grace of God is yours.
Yes, we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ.
If there is a divine no, it is this: No, you are not what your sins say you are, what others say you are. The only “No” we will hear from God comes in response to the ways we devalue God’s grace for all of creation.
So, claim God’s “Yes,” with, as Paul told the Corinthians, a resounding “Amen!” (2 Cor. 1:20), knowing that all of God’s promises come with a “Yes,” without a quid and quo.