It's more about what He did, not what He would do

As I walk around church I see a lot of people who have shirts or ties that have the cute acronym "WWJD". Essentially this means "What Would Jesus Do"? It's a question we as Christians should ask ourselves on a daily basis when we approach things and have decisions to make. The problem is that this has also turned into a marketable cliche. There are now books out on "What would Jesus Eat" to show "healthy" diets. There was a discussion I heard recently on "What type of car would Jesus drive" and of course it would have been an environmentally friendly car that got excellent gas mileage. Trying to determine the actions that Jesus would have taken and using it to make decisions is admirable, but there is a better way (in my humble opinion). Instead of trying to decide what Jesus would have done, why don't we read His Word and then mimic what He did do.

The Bible (New Testament) is full of stories of exactly how Jesus did live. There are examples of how He related to people. There are examples of when He did get angry (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-18; John 2:13-22) when the money changers were in the temple and overcharging for the merchandise. He had righteous anger and He overturned their tables. This was righteous anger. Anger is not wrong. Anger is not bad. It is what you do when you get angry that deems it right or wrong. We are to hate sin, so anger is not bad.

Another example we can follow of Jesus is how He had compassion. This is shown in so many forms. His healing of cripples (Mark 1:21-28; John 5:1-18; John 9:1-7; Luke 14:1-6). His feeding the 4000 (Mark 8:1-9) and 5000 (Matt 14:13-21, John 6:1-14). Are we to help others? Absolutely. Why, because it is not just what Jesus *would* do, it is exactly what Jesus did do. He went out among the people. He called the people to Him, including the children! (Matt 19:14). If Jesus could take time out of His busy schedule to go out and to evangalize simply by serving people then I think we too are called to do this (again, I'm saying to serve and minister and allow that to be the way to evangelize - I will go more into evangelizing through sharing of the gospel later).

One of the most awesome examples that is listed in the Bible is how Jesus resisted Satan. This is recorded in Matt 4. Satan takes Jesus and offers Him everything that we humans would savor: first was food which could mean our most basic needs (after Jesus had been fasting and hungry for forty days); fame and fortune (if He would bow down and worship Satan). Jesus was in a weakened state after the fast yet He was still strong enough to resist all that Satan was offering. If in His most vulnerable state Jesus still resisted the temptations put before Him then we too should be able to resist them. There should be no time in which we fall and blame it on simply being human (to err is human, right?). We should rely on the example that Jesus set for us and continue to resist the temptations and persevere.

Reading through the first 4 books of the New Testament and you will see that Jesus lived the Word and that He also preached the Word. He set the example by the life He lived. This was also true when it came to sharing the gospel. This was not something He felt that only pastors and rabbis were to do. No, He calls each and every Christian to do this. We are commanded (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8) to go into the world and to preach the "good news". Even in Matt 28:19 Jesus says to go to all nations and make disciples of them. That is to tell them about the gospel and to share the good news with them. We are all called to be evangelists. We are not to force our faith on anyone, but we are to share our faith with them. If they reject the truth then that is up to them, but we are called to share.

So I believe we are called to do much more than simply wonder what Jesus would do and try to do that. I believe we are to read His Word, see the examples He set for us, and try to mimic His very actions. This is why I like the acronym WDJD (What Did Jesus Do) over the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do).