The Answer is “Yes”

'Listening and following. That’s it. All the vast libraries of theological thought… can be condensed down into just four surprisingly simple words: listen and follow Jesus.

And, of course, this is not a one-off thing. I don’t just hear Jesus once and say ‘yes’ to him once, on the day I first become a Christian. As the weeks and months and years unfold, I try to say ‘yes’ again and again in great big, terrifying, life-defining ways, and also (especially) in tiny, imperceptible ways.’

‘Gradually, my neural pathways get realigned by ten thousand tiny ‘yeses’, slowly my character is refined by each righteous choice, and ultimately my destiny is defined, not by life’s marker moments, but by a myriad of apparently inconsequential decisions magnified into beliefs and ossified into behaviors.’

‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.’ Jesus Christ knows me! He knows my name, my thoughts, my failures, fears and dreams, and still he loves me. I listen to his voice because he knows me better than I know myself. I follow his example because he cares for me more than anyone ever could or would or should.

Having explored many different ways in which the Lord speaks – through the Bible and prophecy, through dreams, conscience, community, creation and culture – we must finish where we began: with the ultimate Word of God in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who comes to us covertly, disguised in the ordinary, interrupting our conversations upon the Emmaus road. It is his presence that realigns our thinking, his insights that bring the Scriptures to life. He enters our homes before we’ve had a chance to tidy them, sits down at our meal tables, half uninvited, and breaks our hearts by breaking bread.

Sometimes he speaks dramatically, but mostly quietly with ‘words . . . full of the Spirit and life’ (John 6:63 NIV UK). The more we say ‘yes’ to the things he says, the more familiar and precious his voice becomes, until, ultimately, at the end of the road, at the end of the day, at the end of our lives, we look back with a mixture of wonder and joy and say:

Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?

And so we arise, put on our coats and step out into the night.’

Lord, thank you for speaking to me. Help me to recognize your voice in all the different ways you speak – in your Word, your people, your still small voice. Help me to practice listening to you every day of my life, growing ever closer in communion with you.

Amen.

Pete Greig, How to Hear God, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2022