What Would Jesus Do, Part II?

A few days ago I overheard someone say, “Maybe we should get back to asking, ‘What would Jesus do?'”

The statement conjured up images of “WWJD” bracelets and other paraphernalia popularized when WWJD was at its trendy heights in the 90’s.

There was real benefit by some people and churches to asking what would Jesus do in the same situation. But here’s the weakness that’s always been attached to the WWJD concept: without a reasonable familiarity with scripture, the answer a person provides to the WWJD question is nothing more than a guess. And a guess is a fairly weak source from which to make life-altering decisions.

However, a lack of Bible knowledge often doesn’t get in the way of many in deciding what Jesus would do …

Like the many sexually active couples living together who have said to me, “Oh, we don’t think Jesus would want us to be unhappy …”

Like the many couples looking to justify divorce telling me, “I don’t think Jesus would want me to put up with that …”

Like the many who explain away their rejection of Christ’s church by saying, ” I don’t think Jesus would want me to be a hypocrite …”

Like those who defend not financially supporting the church by saying, “I don’t think Jesus would want me to miss making my payments just to give something to the church …”

Or like those who even validated their drunken weekends by saying, “If Jesus would make wine for a wedding party I don’t think He would mind me having a few beers on the weekend …”

“What would Jesus do?” in the same situation could be a good, even powerful question to ask if the answer provided comes from biblical truth. But it can also be used to customize just one more excuse to continue wallowing in sin when the answer is just a guess.

WWJD was often used to try to escape the disciple’s responsibility of actually becoming a student of Christ (the meaning of the term “disciple”) so that he or she could know how Jesus would respond in similar situations because they had studied what He has taught, what He has actually said, and who He really is.

Perhaps, instead of returning to some spiritual schtick, maybe we would be better off by just getting more serious about discipleship. That way, we won’t have to guess about Jesus and we won’t have a convenient cover for justifying living in a such a way Jesus really wouldn’t.

Scotty