JASON: Yes, Affirmative, Absolutely
“The wine supply ran out during the festivities … Jesus told the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’” (John 2:3,7 NLT)
Saying “yes” to God will often require you to give up something that you think is valuable. Jesus asks for WATER. Read the passage. He has them fill six 30 gallon waterpots with WATER. That’s a lot of WATER. 180 gallons of WATER. And it’s not like they could just hook up a garden hose and fill these things. Every day, they would go down to the local well, draw out bucket-by-bucket the water they needed, and carry it back. No, for these people, water was precious. Water was valuable.
But water was also not pure. These are the days before chlorine in our water supplies. These are the days before underground septic tanks. These are the days before Britta water purifiers. These are the days where raw sewage would run on the streets and contaminate the water supply . . . yummy. Isn’t it funny how they think this water is so valuable, but in reality, at a microscopic level that they can’t see, it’s dirty? Isn’t it funny how Jesus asks for this thing that is so valuable to them, but in reality Jesus is really asking them for their poop water? And it is here that these people must decide: water or wine. Do I say “yes” to Jesus?
Saying “yes” to God will often require you to give up something that you think is valuable. Look back over the great “yeses” of your life. What valuable thing did you have to give up? “Yes, I’ll marry you,” meant that you had to give up your independence. It meant that you can’t just think about you anymore. It meant that you were going to have to shut down your subscription to match.com. “Yes, I’ll take that job,” meant that you were giving up your schedule. It meant that for eight hours a day, somebody else would run your life. It meant that you were only making a certain amount of money, probably less than what you think you deserve. “Yes, I will go to school here,” meant that you were giving up on all those other schools who keep sending you mail. It meant that you were giving up your freedom for the next few years. It meant that you were going to have to pay a lot of money.
“Yes” to God will require you to give up something that you think is valuable. But in the end, the valuable is really just poop water.
