SGA Chaplain

Chaplain Devotional - March 9, 2008

Just say yes. Why don’t we hear this more often? I think we are all familiar with the slogan “Just say no.” In our daily lives, we are called to submit to God and his commands. I suppose we could frame this submission as saying no to our own temptations, or no to ourselves. In fact this way of seeing the question would appear to me to be quite the norm. But really, in doing this, we aren’t learning to say no, but rather to say yes. For the important question is how we respond to God, not to one another or ourselves. These may be related factors, but what we actually ought to be striving for is to answer God. And that answer is to obey Him, to answer yes. Sometimes, this can even be to do the things that we want or know will be good for us. Yet the very fact that it has been commanded of us makes the decision harder. Saying yes does not always require an equal no. It does, however, require our whole focus and motive to be on Him who has asked the question. From experience, it seems that often the hardest part comes in saying yes. And our current focus on no has perhaps backfired in helping us to answer with the negative when the response required ought to be the affirmative. So maybe what we really need are bumper stickers, T-shirts, and seminars teaching us to “Just say yes.”

- Kate Hamilton, SGA Chaplain '07-'08