Because of His Yes
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:15-24
Verse 20 is a wonderful promise about the promises of God. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Christ].” Looking at it in context, we see that Paul wasn’t so much teaching about the promises of God, at least not directly. He was writing about his decision to delay coming to Corinth. He was accused of “vacillating” about his plans.
Paul pushes back against this slanderous charge. He says he wasn’t being a yes/no man – a guy who says yes and no about something at the same time. He wasn’t being tricky and hard to pin down about what he was saying.
Notice how Paul connects that to the promises of God in the passage. Paul is saying that he based the way he made commitments and promises on the way God makes promises. God’s yes is yes. Therefore, Paul felt, as a follower of and ambassador for Christ, that his yes must likewise be a yes.
Paul had good reasons for not coming to Corinth. Those reasons had nothing to do with uncertainty or squishy character.
We can learn something from Paul here. First – and this applies to many areas of life – we should shape our character, values, and decisions to the gospel of Christ. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection should always be in mind in how we deal with life. Second, when it comes to promises and commitments, we should keep in mind how our promises reflect upon the Lord Jesus. One of the ways we can testify to the faithfulness of Christ to His promises is to be faithful to our own.
Third, because we are fallible humans and we can’t control every circumstance, we should be cautious about making promises we can’t possibly keep. When we do make promises that we end up not being able to see through on, we should be forthright about it. If it was a failure on our part, we should acknowledge that. If it is an unanticipated change of circumstances, explain that. Whatever the reason, we should be people of integrity. We should be people whose yes is yes and no is no, because that is the kind of person our Lord is.
