WWJD?

Charles Sheldon wrote a book called In His Steps which was subtitled “What Would Jesus Do?” and spawned a small industry of jewelry and other items labeled WWJD. No doubt profits have been made, but this may also have prompted more people to think about Jesus and asking WWJD? as they made decisions.

It is a good question. I’m asking it this morning as I read today’s verse. It says:

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:6)

By claiming to love and follow with Jesus, I ought to back up my claim by behaving or walking as He did. This means I must know how He behaved. I have to study His life, be close to Him in my spirit, and rely on Him for guidance and the resources to follow through on His direction.

Sometimes I’ve no clue what Jesus would do. His story took place two thousand years ago in a different culture with different norms. While I know His principles are timeless, sometime my brain cannot figure them out.

This week I did something with good motives and am being challenged on the results. I’ve had no rebukes from God about my motives, and the results are positive, but some people didn’t appreciate my efforts. I’m confused.

In the past, I’ve done things with selfish motives that turned out okay. No one challenged them except God. He wasn’t interested in the consequences, only the motives. This is confusing too, at least today. As I read the above verse and its context, I’m still not sure what God is saying to me, and in this situation, I’ve no idea what Jesus would do or would have done.

My commentary has something to say about motives. It uses several examples to make a good point. For instance, slaves must follow the commands of their masters or they will be punished. Employees need to do their work or they will get fired. In these cases, they are motivated by consequences and this motivation fits with the thinking today’s world.

However, the commentary goes on to say that a Christian is a child of God and ought to obey Him because of a sincere desire to do so. This is obedience because I love Him. I ought to follow Him because He died for me and obey to show my response to His love for me.

That doesn’t mean that the consequences will be pleasant. The so-called “prosperity gospel” says that God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life, which is true, but it stops there. The Father loved the Son, yet His wonderful plan included persecution and death. That could happen to any of His children. Following Him in love could include nasty results, so my motivations cannot be consequence-based, at least not totally. Otherwise, I will be disappointed and maybe deeply tempted to stop walking with Jesus. Being a Christian is not always “wonderful.”


Is this the answer to my confusion? It would be if I was positive that what I did was in obedience to Jesus, even though I am not aware of rebellion, or self-serving, or any personal reasons, I thought that I was abiding. I am also thinking that if God was not in it, He would have poked me in the heart and said, “Don’t” but He didn’t.

It’s possible my error was in the realm of protocol. I have a certain amount of authority in the area of my actions, but there are others with authority in that same area. They were not happy because they didn’t have a part in it? Perhaps. This is not for me to determine.

In all this musing, I’ve learned something about myself and about God. I really depend too much on immediate outcomes to tell me if something was successful. Had Jesus done that, He would have decided he’d failed as He hung on that cross. Instead, I need to listen, obey, perhaps make sure I keep others in the loop, but also not be too hasty with my evaluations.

There is a story in Acts about a group of Jewish officials who wanted to kill the apostles for refusing to stop teaching about Jesus. In the dispute, a respected Pharisee calmed them down by giving some examples of others who had “claimed to be somebody” and their cause didn’t amount to anything. Then he said, “Now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it — lest you even be found to fight against God” (Acts 5:38-39).

This is God’s answer to my confusion. If what I did was from Him, He will see it through. If not, it will come to nothing. Either way is fine with me because I know that following Jesus also means being able to say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”