Sunday, 17 September 2006

• Currently Listening Pipa Concerto (in concert with the CSO) see related

  WWJD?

  (Inspired by Scott)

  I’m sure I’m not the only one young enough to remember when it was trendy to wear those WWJD? wristbands, short for What Would Jesus Do?  This is not such a terrible slogan; there are many worse people than Jesus to imitate, and you could even argue there is Biblical precedent for it (1 Peter 2:21). 

  The weakness was most memorably shown one afternoon when my brother was trying to choose a movie for the family to watch.  Getting one of his mischievous grins, he said, “Now I wonder what movie Eric would want to watch if he was here tonight.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “I’m right here; you could just ask me!”

  “Oh, be quiet, Eric,” said John. “I’m trying to ask ‘What Would Eric Watch’!”

  In the early 1900s, R. A. Torrey put the problem in more sober terms, also explaining the solution:

  We hear a great deal in these days about doing as Jesus would do.  Certainly we ought as Christians to live like Christ.  “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6).  But any attempt on our part to imitate Christ in our own strength will only result in utter disappointment and despair.  There is nothing more futile that we can possibly attempt than to imitate Christ in the power of our own will.  If we imagine that we succeed, it will be simply because we have a very incomplete knowledge of Christ.  The more we study Him, and the more perfectly we understand His conduct, the more clearly will we see how far short we have come from imitating Him.  But God does not demand of us the impossible; He does not demand of us that we imitate Christ in our own strength.  He offers to us something infinitely better.  He offers to form Christ in us by the power of His Holy Spirit.  And when Christ is thus formed in us by the Holy Spirit’s power, all we have to do is to let this indwelling Christ live out His own life in us, and then we will be like Christ without struggle or effort.  (The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, p. 133-4.)

  The only drawback to this teaching is that it leaves us without anything to put on our wristbands.  Here are a few ideas.  Not quite as catchy, but more biblical…

   

  HCYDWJWDWYDKWJD? (RYB)

  How Can You Do What Jesus Would Do When You Don’t Know What Jesus Did? (Read Your Bible)

  CTTOIDJATMQAFTTDITB?

  Come To Think Of It, Didn’t Jesus Already Tell Me Quite A Few Things To Do In The Bible?

  IOTTFIOOYOWNAJWHWYTD? (P)

  Instead Of Trying To Figure It Out On Your Own, Why Not Ask Jesus What He Wants You To Do? (Pray)

  HCILTHSHMTDWJWD?

              How Can I Let The Holy Spirit Help Me To Do What Jesus Would Do?

  WIJDTAHCIBAPOI?

              What Is Jesus Doing Today And How Can I Be A Part Of It?

  WTPOAWJWDWYNEPTTHPATLTIOTB? 
  (Good for liberal Christians)

  What’s The Point Of Asking What Jesus Would Do When You’re Not Even Prepared To Take His Position About Things Like The Inspiration Of The Bible? 

  WWJDWHMSBSTTOWTSRMIPLTMITT
  (Not recommended for church bookstores)

  What Would Jesus Do; Well, He Might Start By Smashing The Table On Which This Slick Religious Merchandise Is Placed Like The Moneychangers In The Temple…

  SADTTLOTIDUJWWIDFJ?

  Since Anything Done To The Least Of These Is Done Unto Jesus, What Would I Do For Jesus?

   

  (If anyone wants to market these, I get half the royalties.)

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