![]() ![]() We prayed, and God's power proved them wrong. Then there were the doctors who said that Cheryl couldn't have another baby. And I'll never forget the time my phone rang with an unsolicited job offer just before I'd planned to file for unemployment benefits. Nine years later, his positive answer to that prayer stands firm. I remember the day we laid hands on Judy and asked God to free her from the cancer that seemed unshakable. But I do know miraculous things still happen. And the Scriptures promise us that the same power works in and through our lives today ( Phil. Jesus proved that God's power is sufficient to meet every need. He cast out demons ( Luke 4:36), healed broken bodies ( Luke 5:17), raised the dead ( John 11:1-44), and forgave the sins of the guilty ( Matt. But Jesus not only talked to Levi, he asked the man to become his disciple.īy the power of God's Spirit, Jesus provided for people's physical and financial needs ( Matt. An upstanding individual would not associate with them at all. On the social-ethical scale of the day, tax collectors landed somewhere between a pimp and something that crawls out from under a rock. Shortly after accepting Jesus' invitation to follow him, Levi (later known as Matthew) "held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them" (v. But Jesus was much less squeamish than most about embracing the sinful and sickly, the unseemly and unimportant. This provoked great disdain from the religious establishment. Jesus demonstrated the love of God by accepting the castaways of society. He might sleep less or work less, but he would find time to pray. Still, he would make time to commune with the Father and concentrate on his purposes. His life was swirling with people, needs, and opportunities. Mark 1 gives us a glimpse of Jesus early in his ministry. Every aspect of his life and ministry was saturated with prayer. Forty-five times the gospels tell us that Jesus went alone to pray. Jesus demonstrated intimacy with God by seeking him continually in prayer. However, this hypothetical question presupposes we have already answered another equally important, yet less obvious, question: What did Jesus do? If we don't know what Jesus did in his life, how can we expect to guess what he would do in ours? I looked at the four gospels with these questions in mind and discovered seven priorities that guided Jesus: What would Jesus do?įirst Peter 2:21 says that Jesus left us "an example, that should follow in his steps." So, it's admirable and biblical to ask "What would Jesus do?" in the decisions we face each day. ![]() But on the day I intend to write my check, I discover that an unemployed friend is in danger of losing his house. We're reaching people for Christ, and the expansion is necessary. ![]() I've been setting aside money for the construction of a new ministry center at our church.But for the first time, our new neighbors are two men in a "domestic partnership." We face a quandary: If we take them the same housewarming gift we've always given new neighbors, are we condoning their lifestyle? Or are we being "friends of sinners" (see Matt. With lots of neighbors coming and going, we've had many opportunities to build strategic kingdom relationships.Skip church today, and prove to your neighbor you love her. A thought races through my mind: Stop the car. She's working alone to clear her yard of debris from a recent storm. Pulling out of the garage, I glance in the rearview mirror and see my neighbor across the street. I'm hustling out the door to church with the family in tow.As simple as it seems, sometimes the question- What would Jesus do?-still leaves me wondering. To date, an estimated 14 million bracelets have been sold.īut the message of wwjd should not be taken for granted due to overexposure. By the late '90s, the letters wwjd could be found on a multitude of books, T-shirts, and other Christian merchandise. Soon people throughout their community were wearing the bracelets, and it mushroomed from there. Calvary's youth took Sheldon's model to heart and made up colorful woven bracelets to wear as a tangible reminder of that powerful question. In the novel, parishioners preface every thought and action with "What would Jesus do?" and begin to see the difference it makes. The WWJD movement started in 1989 when the youth group at Calvary Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, studied Charles Sheldon's 1896 novel, In His Steps. For me it serves as a moral compass, helping me apply abstract elements of my Christian faith to the practical questions I face each day. I wear a bracelet on my wrist with four letters: WWJD- What Would Jesus Do? This saying has become a guiding principle for many Christians. ![]()
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