WWJD

WWJD was a thing for a while, one of those trendy Christian ideas that was helpful at first, became trite after a while, and now has been mocked with all kinds of non-Christian rip-offs. At it’s root, though, it’s good because it meant to focus us on the key consideration for all of our decisions, which is being like our Lord.

This morning, I read as good an answer to that question as any, recorded by Paul in Philippians 2:1-5: 

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus . . . .”

What would Jesus do? He’d look to other people’s interest over his own, and in humility value others above himself. We know that, because he did it in the most ultimate way. And he’d tell us that being one with him is also a call to oneness with each other. Christian unity is characterized by sharing the same love, and being one in the spirit and of one mind.

What would Jesus do? Put up with a lot in order to show love, tenderness and compassion, and promote unity. More than a call to a certain morality, those WWJD bracelets are a call to the fruits of the Spirit, and to a collective Christianity that sometimes seems at odds with our rugged American individualism.

That’s a much more challenging answer than a one-time choice to keep a commandment. But it’s also much more fulfilling