WWJD — What Would Jesus Do? is a slogan that has been engraved on bracelets and glibly spoken (no doubt sincerely) by many who admire the Man from Galilee. Let's think a little deeper about it. Let's first ask…
WDJD — what DID Jesus do? As the divine Son, eternally pre-existent with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He came down from heaven (became incarnate) to give His life a ransom for many. Our lives are not worth a plugged nickel towards the redemption of even one of our fellow human beings. But the life of the Son of God was of infinite value, and He accomplished redemption for an innumerable multitude by His once for all substitutionary death. What else did Jesus do?
During His earthly ministry of about three and half years, He worked miracles and cast out demons at will. He unilaterally chose twelve specially sent ambassadors to be foundational pillars of His Church, against which He promised the gates of Hades would never prevail. Two thousand years so far, and the Church universal is still going strong all over the Earth! What else?
Jesus rose from the dead, thus publicly and powerfully declaring the justification of His people. He had previously claimed that at the last day He personally will raise every other human being who has ever lived or who ever will live (John 5:28,29). One of the twelve expressed his supposition that if everything Jesus did were to be written down, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25).
Let's add WIJD — What IS Jesus Doing, i.e. right now. Knowing that He died as His people's substitute and was raised for their justification, another apostle wrote, "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also makes intercession for us" (Romans 8:34). We can pray, but He alone is our great high Priest.
So in these cases WCDWJD obtains — we CAN'T do what Jesus did! He did and is doing many things we are unable to do or ever expect to be able to do. As one pastor friend frequently says, "He did for you what you could never do for yourself." Therefore, if we want a helpful slogan for our walk as His disciples (bracelet optional), why not switch to…
WDJC — what did Jesus COMMAND? He summarized what He commands as follows: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. To inform our consciences about how those two great, eternal, and universal commandments are to be kept in our particular changeable and personal circumstances, we search the holy Bible, God's word.
We rightly divide the whole counsel of God in Scripture. We become illumined as the Holy Spirit works understanding in us and in the rest of that ultimately invincible Church, i.e. Christ's spiritual body to which every one united to Him is also vitally united – as evidenced outwardly by his baptism and his ongoing visible membership in a local congregation thereof.
We gain wisdom for matters like discerning between the humble poor who really need charity and artful scammers. We learn how to test the spirits, we come to the understanding of the Psalmist who rejoiced in his love for the breadth and perfection of God's ever abiding statutes, judgments, and testimonies. By His word, we grow to be like Jesus Who said His very food and drink was to do what His Father had commanded Him.
And once we have ascertained from the holy Bible how to apply WDJC in this context or that relationship...in this trial or that challenge, let us go on engrave on our hearts this determination to be remembered in every context, relationship, trial, or challenge:
IWOJ — I will OBEY Jesus. As one hymnist put it, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."