Christspeak, Rx

WWJD or "What would Jesus do?" comes from an old novel called In His Steps. It is used as a motivating question to inspire us to consider what Jesus would do if He was in our shoes, presumably before we make a decision to act. But is it the right question?

We can guess at some of the answers, but if you take Jesus at His word- that He is God, you begin to understand the futility of the question and how presumptive it is to consider a decent answer. What would Jesus do? Well, if you look at my life you'll get a good idea of what He didn't do.

A better question is "What did Jesus do?" Now that is a great question. Before you answer, let us put it in context.

Take a bad behavior, for example... cheating.
Say you have the opportunity to cheat on a test. You know if you don't cheat you'll flunk and you are afraid of the consequences that are sure to follow. What would Jesus do? He'd take the test and score a 100! He's God after all. What did Jesus do? He suffered died for my sins- every one of them. He forgives me for not studying, will never forsake me, (even though others might as a consequence of my failure.)

Ahhh- If you are like me when I was a kid, I feared my Dad more than God, and since Christ will forgive me anyway...

Before you cheat- ask yourself, "What did Jesus do?" He suffered and died for my sake. Shall I add to his suffering? I screwed up by not studying, why sin against God again? He has promised not to forsake me. I am not alone. We'll walk through the consequences together.

Take a bad feeling. I feel like a condemned man.
I flunked the test. My Dad is furious, Mom is crying-again, I'm grounded- which means I'll miss a big weekend of fun. My friends shake their heads in dissapointment- I've let them down as well. I feel like a worm.

What did Jesus do?

He died so that I might have life. Why would He do that for me? Everyone is so angry and dissappointed at me- and not for the first time either. He forgave me for not studying (and many other things), He suffered the real consequences of my rebellion against God. I'm simply being disciplined because I am loved. My friends are dissappointed because they love being with me.

The question should always be, "What did Jesus do?"