Replace the ‘I’ with a ‘J’

WWJD1Anyone that knows me pretty well knows that I am a “What Would Jesus Do?” kind of guy.  I have always looked for rules of thumb, short-cuts and those little ‘cheats’ to help me whether I was in school or in the office.  I was always pretty good in math because I would be able to see how one calculation or formula worked and repeat the process.  I may not have thoroughly got the total underlying concept, but I had a good memory at the time and that helped immensely.  I am also a bit of a parrot when it comes to songs, so some stuff sticks in my head – again mostly numbers or events.  Like most, these particular skills tend to fade with time.  And here I remain searching even harder for that trick that will trigger the thought or memory that I know I will need sometime down the line.

So, once I started to understand who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and what He has asked me to do, it became clear what the journey to our salvation really was:  To become more like Christ every day.   For me, it has become the reconciliation between what I would do and what Jesus would do, in every case, situation or circumstance.  To conform my way of thinking to what Jesus would be considering any time I had a decision to make of any consequence.  Changing, What I Would Do to What Jesus Would Do.  (WWID to WWJD.)  Forsaking the ‘I’ for the ‘J’ is what I have determined as my test to see if I am on track.  St. Paul talks about it (of course) in his letters (Ephesians 4:20-24)

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Again, not easy to do, but it is easy to remember and that may be half the battle, remembering what I should be doing instead of what I want to do.  And, if I forget everything I was ever taught about the history of Christian salvation, but can still ‘put on the garment of Jesus Christ’, I’ll be OK.  That’s my little cheat, the answer written on my palm, but in this case it is the $1.49 purple cotton band I wear around my wrist:  WWJD?

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