W.W.J.D.

I have thought long and hard over the past few weeks about this and many other acronyms that are used with young children to help them learn about the life we are asked to live.  Over the next few weeks I will share these with you and hopefully encourage each of you in your walk with Christ.

Some time back I started this with B.I.B.L.E. – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth; but likely the most well-known and the simplest to remember is W.W.J.D. – What Would Jesus Do? This is something that is key to each of our walks, and something that we should remember on a daily basis when striving to walk in the way of Christ’s example.

As Christians we are called to a higher standard.  Being a Christian means that we have put away the old man and stepping into a life that is to be a mirror image of the life that Christ lived.  Paul stated in his second letter to the Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17 – ESV)  So if we claim to be in Christ, we are accepting that we are a new creation and that our old self has passed away to make room for the new.

When Jesus walked the earth, he made friends with the lowly, he ministered to everyone, and he lived an example that is shared throughout the New Testament for us to learn from.  The struggle that many Christians have today is putting off the old self and becoming like Christ.  When you turn over your life to Christ, you are to be different.  We are not to look like the world…we must put ourselves into the mindset of Christ.

Paul explained this mindset in his letter to the Philippians:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)

We are called to put on the mind of Christ…a mind that did not consider himself as an equal to God, he did not put himself above anyone…in fact he considered himself a servant.  Jesus humbled himself and through his humbleness and obedience, gave his life on a cross so that we could have life, and have it more abundantly.

So as you go through your day…ask yourself in every action, ‘What Would Jesus Do?’  In the things you say ask, ‘What Would Jesus Say?’ Put on the mind of Christ and change the lives of those around you today!