These four letters, WWJD, have been my mantra throughout my life. What Would Jesus Do? I ran across them when I read a fiction book in my early twenties.
In His Steps, written by Charles M. Sheldon, is the compelling story of a content, self-satisfied pastor and his congregation living in the Midwestern United States. When the congregation witnesses a visitor to their church, a homeless man, suddenly die in their midst during a Sunday morning worship service, they realize their failure to love the lost and reflect Christian character in their daily living. After much soul searching and reflection, the pastor presents a challenge to the group. Before deciding how to respond to business deals, personal choices, and relationships in their lives, some members agree to pledge to live their lives for one year, asking themselves, "What would Jesus do?"
As far as a literary piece, it is a bit simplistic in the presentation of the plot and mostly very predictable. Yet, its impact on my life has been significant as it made me reevaluate my life's decisions and reactions and helped me dig into the Word of God to see what it can teach me about God's truth and his ways.
Read the red letter edition's exact quotes from Jesus in the New Testament. Read the teachings of the men who wrote the New Testament after spending three years of their lives witnessing the beauty and consistency of how their rabbi lived. They viewed the character, compassion, and love that Jesus demonstrated daily. The teachings were a part of the mission of Jesus. Not only for us to know how to live and do things according to God's desire, but for us to learn that initially, at the time of Creation, there was a standard of the Kingdom of God intended for all humankind to enjoy.
The heavenly standard and lifestyle are warped by sin, greed, hatred, perversion, witchcraft, and tyranny. These evils crept into our world after the fall of Adam and Eve. By Adam and Eve's disobedience to God's command not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they handed over God's gift to them of dominion on the earth to our arch enemy, Satan. They gave up their daily walks and close relationship with God.
I must quickly add that the mission of Christ specifically was to destroy Satan's power over all humanity and the earth through his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus' death on the cross, the blood sacrifice, satisfied the eternal death sentence placed on all humanity separated from God. Now we can choose life and freedom. We now can have fellowship with God and know that we will spend all eternity in heaven rather than hell.
Believers wake up to the significance and extent of dominion we possess over the enemy. We have much more to learn about the positive side of our authority on the earth.
Have I perfectly lived up to my mantra, WWJD? Sadly, no. Like you, I am pretty human, but for much of my life, I can say that by asking myself what Jesus would do in a situation, I came out much better in the long run.
When put to the test, these four words, What Would Jesus Do? can work you over. They challenge you and me to get past deceptive emotions, selfish desires, inflated ego, and fear of man. Once applied, these four words shape you into a stronger person willing to step up to a higher plane of living.
1 John 1:6,7
6-7 (MSG) If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth— we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.
6-7 (TPT) But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him, we share unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continually cleanses us from all sin.
