When WWJD isn’t enough
Nancy Kennedy
Years ago, a woman called me with an idea for my column.
She was discouraged by all the turmoil in the nation — things haven’t changed much, have they? — and suggested we should all start wearing WWJD bracelets again.
Back in the 1990s, WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”) was trendy among Christians. There were bracelets, bumper stickers, coffee mugs — the whole thing. The slogan came from a resurgence of the 1896 book In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, a fictional story about a pastor who challenges his congregation to ask, “What would Jesus do?” before every action for a year.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone read the book and we all did what Jesus would do?” the woman said.
The world probably would be a better place — although Jesus managed to tick off plenty of people by what he did and said.
He told religious leaders they were “whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones” and that their father was the devil. He flipped over the tables of the moneychangers in the temple and took a whip to them, disrupting their thieving business practices. He ate with sinners and earned a reputation as a drunk and a glutton, although he was neither.
Mostly, though, Jesus did things like heal the sick, raise the dead, walk on water and multiply loaves and fish to feed thousands.
Jesus could do those things because he’s God.
Even if we could turn water into wine or make blind men see, even if every person in the world committed to living by “WWJD?” and tried their hardest and did their best, it still wouldn’t work.
We might be able to change behavior. Maybe even stop wars, crime and family feuds. We might achieve a kind of peaceful coexistence, possibly even reduce poverty and hunger.
But it wouldn’t change us inwardly.
We can polish the outside, but we can’t fix our rebellious nature. There’s always going to be someone who asks, “WWJD?” and then decides that flipping tables and cracking whips is the faithful response.
That’s the problem — and the appeal — of WWJD. It offers a do-it-yourself approach to God.
True Christianity, however, is not about doing what Jesus would do. It’s about trusting and resting in what Jesus has already done.
WWJD isn’t the gospel. But WDJD is — What Did Jesus Do?
On the cross, Jesus’ final words were, “It is finished.”
That’s not a challenge. It’s a promise.
One of my favorite hymns, “Before the Throne,” puts it this way: “Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free; for God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.”
When that truth comes first, something changes. Obedience stops being fueled by fear or grit and starts being shaped by gratitude. Mercy follows mercy received. Grace begets grace.
I don’t need a bracelet to remind me.
Years ago, two women approached a pastor after church, both in tears. “We’ve gone to church all our lives and tried so hard to climb the mountain and live up to God’s demands,” they told him, “when Jesus climbed the mountain for us.”
They weren’t crying from guilt. They were crying from relief.
That’s the difference between WWJD and grace — between striving and resting, between trying harder and trusting deeper.
WWJD?
He would smile — not because we finally figured out how to do better, but because we finally believed what he already did.Contact Nancy Kennedy at 352-564-2927 (leave a message) or email at nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.
