We are in the season of Easter. This is
time in the church year where we put special emphasis
on living the life of those who have seen and celebrated
the Resurrection. We’ve gone through the deep sadness
of Good Friday. Many attended Holy Week services or took
time personally to acknowledge the darkness of human nature
that insists on killing the good and celebrating the wicked.
On Easter Sunday morning, people thronged into churches
all over the world to see visions of light and white and
gold and lilies, all signs of victory and renewed hope.
Yes, Christ is risen indeed!
Now, we practice living the resurrection
life. One of the phrases that Jesus spoke to his disciples
was “Let your “yes” be “yes”
and your “no” be “no.” Just learning
to live from that alone can be life-changing. By so doing,
we eliminate from our vocabulary the defeatist, “I’ll
try . . .” or “maybe I will, but don’t
count on it” phrases. When we use such language,
we give ourselves all room to wiggle out of commitments
and to remain unaccountable.
However, an honestly and freely spoken
“yes” or “no” indicates that we
know our own minds, can speak faithfully out of our experience,
trust that the Spirit of God is working in our lives,
and are willing to be held accountable for our words and
actions. All these are signs of maturity and the life
lived in resurrection grace.
Of course there are times when we truly
don’t know whether we should say “yes”
or “no” to something. Here’s a good
response: “I’ll pray about it and get back
with you.” Then, do pray about it and do what God
leads you to do. God is not trying to hide wisdom and
direction from us. We start from the center of Christian
living which is to love God with all our heart, mind,
soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
That means we already have some pretty good insight where
decisions are concerned. The specifics of living that
out are different for each person. Those specifics arise
from being aware of our talents and gifts, from the resurrection
courage to get out of deadening comfort zones and try
new things, and from awareness of current commitments
and obligations.
So, let’s all be people of the light,
making decisions seasoned with prayerful thought, giving
a hearty “yes” or a healthy “no”
when faced with decisions, and spread the message of grace
to each person we see. That’s Easter living!
