WWJD

     I know that we have all heard, no matter who you are, the term "What would Jesus do?" It's been thrown around so many times that half of the time when you hear it, people laugh or don't even take into account what it really means anymore. Have you ever thought about taking that acronym seriously at some point in your life? What if we all took WWJD to heart and made every single decision based off of that acronym? Well, before we start thinking about taking it seriously, let's find out exactly who Jesus was since we are told to act like Him.

     Let's begin at skin color. White? Black? Hispanic? European? No, no, no, and no. Jesus was born in the modern day middle east. He traveled through and around Jerusalem and all over that location. Jesus was Arabic. He had darker skin, but not too dark. That's just where His life was and what the geography was like. Next, let's hit some of His beliefs. What I'm about to say might be hard to hear, but it is the truth. Many of us have heard this but haven't gone into depth with it, so I'm going to clarify some of it up. The question: was Jesus Jewish? The answer: no. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was not Jewish, He was born into Jewish culture. (Now, I believe Jesus was a Jew inwardly and outwardly, however, His statements in the Sermon on the Mount and many other things He did challenged Jews and did not match up with today's Jewish Culture. Jesus was a Jew then, not one now). In fact, He challenged the religious leaders of His time, who happened to be Jews! (Pharisees). Now that that has been said, we can move on. What was His personality like? Was Jesus the kind of man you see holding a baby in one arm and petting a dove in the other with all types of people just smiling at Him? Or was He this old man with a thick and mangy beard who yelled at people all the time and told them to change their lives? Well, I'm not going to say which one He is, because, well, we don't know. But I"m going to say that Jesus did say things that only God would say. He convicted everyone with what He said. He also had an angry side, when He literally flipped over tables at a temple and told everyone to leave. (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-47, John 2:13-16) In John it even says that Jesus made a whip and drove all of the animals out! So then, what are we supposed to act like when WWJD comes into play?

     I feel like there are different situations that present themselves to us and each one Jesus has something to say about it. If you see people hitting each other, or people are throwing punches are are physically harming one another, WWJD? Calmly approach them and make an attempt at ceasing the fight. What about gossip? Tell the gossipers that the truth can only be found through the source, and that our own accounts of people's lives don't matter. Judgement is wrong. What if someone actually bashes God or disrespects Him in front of you. Are you going to tolerate it and act like nothing has happened? Stand up for your Father, represent Him, respect Him, glorify Him. "For He who denies me before others I will surely deny before my Father." Those are Christ's words, do you think He would let someone get away with throwing God's name around? I think Jesus would have a word or two to say to them. We have to stop tolerating sin, brothers and sisters, and start defending our God and Savior as warriors of the cross. Amen.