Vicky: What would Jesus do?

May 2014 be full of hope, joy and peace! 

In the ’90s if you were around the Christian world you may remember there was a craze that started: wristbands with the letters WWJD. What Would Jesus Do? It was big and in the end it became a cheesy sentiment. And yet it is so profound. 

After Jesus’ death and resurrection He hung out with His friends before ascending to heaven. His final words are important to us today. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus said “All authority has been given to me on heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

So what is key in these verses?

1. Jesus, as a human, through the cross, took back the authority to steward the earth well, to be all that it was be, that we as humanity had given to the devil in the Garden of Eden. 
2. We are asked to be proactive, to Go! In the original Greek this means, “As you go”. Therefore as you are going about your day-to-day life, you should… 
3. make disciples. A disciple is a learner, a follower. Jesus is looking for learners and followers of Him. Where Jesus was at that time, the concept of disciple was part of the culture. Someone would learn from their teacher and put it into practice. 
4. We make these disciples in every people-group on earth. 
5. We baptise them into a Trinitarian God. 
6. We teach them to observe ALL that Jesus taught. 
7. Jesus is with us! 

When we consider this commission, WWJD is very relevant! But it’s not just what would Jesus do – it’s what would Jesus think, what were His ways? My biggest prayer is, “Lord, show me Your ways.” In Psalm 103:7 it says about God “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.” 

Moses had a close friendship with God. He took the time to build this closeness and didn’t observe God’s miracles from afar as the Israelites did. We all know many things about the Queen, but most of us do not know her personally. Therefore we don’t know what she thinks, what her motivations are, how she handles people. We don’t know the Queen’s ways! It is the same with God. We can be a follower of Jesus, and - just like the Israelites - know His acts but not His ways. 

Our God, who is love, wants us to know Him intimately. That is why Jesus came. Jesus not only went to the cross and enabled us to have a close personal relationship with God, but He became human, so we could relate to God. In the gospels we have stories of Jesus that are so precious in enabling us to know the ways of God, and lead us into greater friendship with Him, showing us how to live on earth. 

As Christians we may unintentionally add stuff to what it means to follow Jesus and be His disciple. I encourage us all in 2014 to determine to know Jesus and His ways. That in every interaction, every circumstance, every place, we ask ourselves the question – WWJD and WWJT (What Would Jesus Think?) and WWJF (What Would Jesus Feel?) until our friendship with Jesus and our intimate knowledge of Him becomes such that we don’t need to ask the question, we just know in our core how He would feel, what He would think and what He would do. And as lovers, friends and followers of Him we will say, “Ok Jesus, I’ll do that for you!”