Say “Yes” to Christ
by Brandon Briscoe
What do you want from life?
As a new year begins, many of us feel the quiet pressure that something must change. We know we need to mature, to be more faithful, to shoulder greater responsibility. For some, the year also exposes hidden sin—secret habits, unspoken thoughts, lingering temptations. We want freedom. We want to live and act the way “good Christians” seem to live.
“Change is not something you can manufacture or observe with your eyes. It begins quietly, in the heart, with an open Bible.”
For others, the new year doesn’t merely remind—it mocks. You’ve tried discipline. You’ve tried resolve. You’ve promised yourself “this time will be different,” and it never is. Now change feels impossible. Maybe you fantasize about starting over somewhere else, or hope for a sudden, miraculous transformation. Or perhaps you’ve quietly concluded, this is just who I am.
As your pastor, the one who preaches to you week after week, it’s clear to both of us that I don’t have magic words to fix you. Passion only carries us so far. The church can love you. The church can give you room to grow. The church can provide a framework for discipleship—but the church cannot be your answer.
So where does hope lie?
Where is the power?
Is real change even possible?
“Change is believing and following Jesus without reservation.”
The church, preaching, and ministry can affect change—but they cannot be the change. Change is not something you can manufacture or observe with your eyes. It begins quietly, in the heart, with an open Bible. More than that, change is faith placed in a person. It is the surrender of a stubborn intellect, it’s the cutting of the tethers of your experiences, it’s the abandonment of emotions and desires that obscure your view of him. Change is believing and following Jesus without reservation.
Scripture describes Caleb as a man whose faith consistently answered God with a wholehearted “yes”:
Num 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
“Real change does not come from striving harder; it comes as a byproduct of following Jesus.”
Jesus describes faith the same way—not as sentiment, but as allegiance:
Jhn 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
What I want to remind you of is this: many of us are so focused on fixing ourselves that we have failed to fix our eyes. Real change does not come from striving harder; it comes as a byproduct of following Jesus. Growth and transformation flourish when we obsessively pursue him—and repeatedly, decisively, say “yes” to Christ.
Brandon Briscoe is the pastor of the College and Young Adults Ministry at Midtown Baptist Temple. He is the provost of Living Faith Bible Institute and host of the Postscript podcast.