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The Folly of WWJD

Yeah, I know, it's become a Christian staple. Brand me a heretic. :]

It originated in one of the best-selling Christian books of all time, In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon. It has been read by countless millions, encouraged countless millions more. I'm not among them. It's not good literature -- the characters are cardboard, the plot is forced, the whole bent of the book is obviously contrived towards an end: to push forth the message, What Would Jesus Do. So what is wrong with that? you might ask. What does its status as literature have to do with its message? I say, everything. If the characters are phony, if the plot is fake, what does that say about its message? What kind of testimony have puppets playing a tired script at the hands of the puppetmaster? The beauty of literature, the beauty of good writing, is that we love the characters, we breathe and cry and run through the streets with them, we feel their hurt, we rejoice in their joy, and we follow them until the end of the book, and barely remember, while we're reading, that these are not real people and these things did not really happen. But with In His Steps, we are painfully reminded every step of the way by stale dialogue and all-too-perfect occurrences, so that not a single character breathes life. And yet, that is what the book is supposed to be about -- life, true life, the vibrancy of a relationship with Christ Jesus.

I do not blame Pastor Sheldon for its shortcomings. In fact, I do not blame anyone but the Christian community for not seeing through it, and accepting it for what it is: a subpar piece of fiction pushing an agenda. I have no doubt the Lord has used this book to His advantage. He always does.He can use the actions of a wicked person with a wicked motive to further His end, surely He can use the action of a righteous person with a holy motive tenfold (okay, so I can't actually say that Sheldon was a righteous person, nor that his motives were holy, with surety, but it seems a safe assumption, and so we will operate under it).

But let us get back to the agenda that the book pushes, and unearth what I believe is the true folly. WWJD. What would Jesus do? It sounds so perfect, so humbling, so Christian and sheeplike and like what a pursuer of the strait way should say and do: look to the Savior, He will guide you. So where is the folly? It is subtle -- by asking, what would Jesus do? we are not looking to the Savior to guide us at all. We are looking to our own understanding of what the Savior did two thousand years ago, our own wisdom in applying His actions and reactions to our specific situation, our own ability to determine why He did what He did in each situation, to accurately pinpoint His motives and purpose in each recorded decision He made and be able to say, that's what I need to do, cause that's what He did. In short, we trust ourselves, rather than Him.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20,21

What is the alternative? Ask yourself, What does Jesus want me to do now? Or, more precisely, ask Him directly: Lord, what should I do? Instead of relying on our own understanding, pray for direction, let Him guide you. He works in many ways, be it a stirring in your spirit, an encouragement from a friend, or a passage of Scripture. There is so much we can learn from what Jesus did all those years ago, but for us to have the capacity to understand and apply each circumstance to our own circumstances, we must be in communication with the Lord. Trust Him, and He will lift you up. We are not privy to all the nuances in His red words, but we know who is.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.    Proverbs 3:5

Pray without ceasing... Test all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:16,21

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" (Is. 40:13) But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2: 10-16

To mutilate a famous American patriotic quote:

Ask not what Jesus can do for you, but what you can do for Jesus.

Likewise remember: God does not need us to fulfill His work, we need Him to fulfill His work in us, and He can only do so if we surrender to Him. We are servants not out of His necessity, but of our own.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

For I through the law died to the law that I might live in God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.  Galatians 2:19-21

Currently Listening Why Should the Fire Die? By Nickel Creek see related

Read me?

Please, please, please, please, please...

So everyone can know what a hack I am: A Falling Angel

:-]

Currently Listening Good Monsters By Jars of Clay see related

Ok, so most of you have seen this acronym:

Jesus first

Others next

Yourself last

But then I was thinking, how do most people live their lives? What is the way of the world, of natural man; our tendency as fallen people, even as Christians? It looks something like this:

Yourself first

Others next

Look familiar? How often do I slip into the "YO" routine? Don't ask. But then I thought a little further. There are people out there who do good things, who are selfless, who the world deems 'good people'. You know who they are. Charity workers; people who invest their time, their money, their energy into other people; people who show a love for other people with little to no regard for themselves. They might be nurses, soldiers, benefactors, or the waiter at the local grill. They look like this:

Others first

Yourself next

Hmmm... still not complete is it? Is it any wonder the resulting acronym is a Jewish exclamation of surprise? Without Jesus, all our righteousness is as filthy rags and will get us nowhere.

Sobering thought for the day. Wake up, Christians! (Wake up, Luke)

Thoughts on Love

Love is selfless.

Love says, what can I do for you? Not, what have you done for me.

Love says, how have I failed to love you? Not, how have you failed to love me.

Love seeks to serve, not to be served.

Love is not "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine".

Love is not passive, but actively pursues.

Love does not seek its own glory or wellbeing, but the wellbeing of others.

Love gives everything, and expects nothing in return.

If but one spouse in a strained marriage would pursue love as outlined to us, many marital relations would be spared. Love is not about the lover, it is about the loved.

Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.

 1 Cor 13: 4, 5   NKJV

Love is not the sum of its parts.

Love is not affection; it is not tender care; it is not a passionate feeling; it is not being in love; it is not liking another person, or enjoying their presence; it is not a partnership. Love may and often will exude all these things, but these things are not love. They are evidence of love, but not proof. If you were on trial for loving your spouse, your child, your friend, your parents, or most importantly, your Savior, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

 1 Peter 3: 8, 9 NKJV

Love is a universal language.

It is greater than words; it is greater than deeds. It communicates where nothing else can. It softens hard hearts, and tears down stone walls. Without it, the greatest intentions are futile, and best laid plans fail. One cannot win over a person, or a people, if love is not shown.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

 1 Cor 13: 1  NKJV

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

 1 John 3: 18  NKJV

Love benefits the heart of the lover.

It brings joy, peace, satisfaction. It brings fulfillment. We were created for love, both to give and to receive, and without it, we are empty, we are hollow. Without love, though we gain the world, we accomplish nothing. Though we strive for success, for riches, for affection, for pleasures, for beauty, for glory, for fame, for good works or for evil, without love, we accomplish nothing. Though we sacrifice all, if not in love, it is vanity, and vanity is not love, but lust, and shall perish, and love is everlasting.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

 1 Cor 13: 2  NKJV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

 1 John 2: 15-17  NKJV

Love is everlasting.

God is love; love is God. There cannot be love without God, nor can you have God without love. God is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega; God is eternal. So, thus, is love. God loves us, and seeks a relationship of love with us. But love cannot be forced, cannot be coerced, cannot be bought, or it would not be love. He has extended His perfect love toward us, for He is love. It is up to us only to accept. If we go through life refusing to love He who first loved us, we will not be forced to love Him in eternity, and will be eternally separated from His love. This is the divide between heaven and hell: God dwells in heaven, with love; hell has no love, for it has not God.

Love never fails.

 1 Cor 13: 8a

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

 1 John 3: 1a  NKJV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifest toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 1 John 4: 7-11  NKJV

As the Father loved me, I also have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide  in My love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man, that to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointeed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.

 John 15: 9-17  NKJV

See also Romans 12: 9-21, 13:8-10;

Galatians 5: 7-26;

Ephesians 5: 1-5;

Colossians 3: 12-17;

Hebrews 13: 1-6;

John 3: 16-21;

Matthew 5: 43-48