WWDD...

[CAVEAT: I was a teen before I made my way to church, via learning all about it during summer camp.  A long story.  I hitched rides when I was 15 and started driving myself when I was 17.  So, when I say I grew up in the church, it was as a late bloomer, not one who crawled up the aisle.]

I grew up in church fully indoctrinated into the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) mentality.  It sounds great, but it is absolutely soul crushing.  I am not God, so I could never do as Jesus would.  Plus, His ministry (what as a Lutheran I've learned would also be vocation) is not one any human could ever have.  No human can live a sinless life, forgive sins, or raise others and himself from the dead.  All this teaching does is set the Christian up for continual failure, immense pressure, and deep doubt as to salvation.  So, WWJD is spiritual folderol.

But, oh, my!  Do folk ever like to make the New Testament, if not the Gospels alone, as the New-And-Improved-Commandments, a.k.a The Prescription for Living A Christian Life (and thus ensuring your "fire insurance" or ticket to heaven).  Jesus was/is NOT the new Moses.

Based on this predilection for wanting directions on how to be a good Christian, I would like to proffer that, if you insist on making some sort of Christian Model for Living out of the Gospels (again, spiritual folderol), to be biblically accurate it ought to be:  WWDD?

WWDD?  What Would the Disciples Do?

Having been immersed in Michael Card's commentaries on the Gospels for month and months, picking through my rather broken memory, if you were to take on WWDD? as your model you would:

• View all undesirable people as not worth your or Jesus' time (i.e,  as a bother).
• Discourage children from approaching Jesus.
• Fight amongst your cohorts.
• Try to position yourself as chief amongst your cohorts.
• Get your parent to try and position yourself as chief amongst your cohorts.
• Fail even in your good intentions.
• Be continually confused by Jesus' teachings.
• Doubt Jesus' teachings.
• Be afraid of Jesus.
• Deny Jesus.
• Not believe what Jesus says about His death and resurrection until you actually eye-witness the fulfillment of His resurrection.

What?  Why would I want to live like that?  You ask.  Well, my answer is that you already are, though you might not admit it.  After all, even as a justified saint in Christ, you remain a sinner whose flesh will always strive against God.  However, what is the result of WWDD?  The forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

In a nutshell, Living by WWDD? is recognizing that you cannot, by your own mind or might, contribute to either your salvation or your sanctification because you are always going to mess up on one front or another.  And it is knowing that our Triune God takes care of salvation and sanctification, Jesus being your Redeemer and the Holy Spirit being your Sanctifier, both given to you by God the Father, your creator.  So, as you stumble and fumble your way through trying to obey the Word of God, and end up in the same pitfalls of the disciples, you know that, despite the constant failures, you are still forgiven.

Thus, WWDD? is a life in need of and daily receiving both the forgiveness of Christ Crucified and the building and sustaining of faith by the Holy Spirit, so that, with the help of God, you might accomplish the good works He has put before you.

However, you don't need to ask yourself what the disciples would do to live this way.  Jesus did not come to model how to live; He came to save mankind from eternal death.  And Jesus did not call His disciples so that they might model how to live; He called them to ensure that the ministry of giving and receiving the gifts of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit via Word and Sacrament might continue past the time He left this earth to ascend into heaven.

Of course, give how much mankind wants to do something about his/her own salvation and sanctification, what would happen to the Christian Bible Study market if publishers stopped churning out all those studies with life application steps to be a better Christian by your own mind or might and actually published ones that taught that God has done/does all the work of salvation and sanctification????

"Why then, Myrtle," you ask, "Do you still have that WWJD? t-shirt stuffed in the recesses of your closet?"  Because my indoctrinated self thinks it would be wrong to toss it in the trash where it belongs.  In fact, I just washed it because it was getting a bit dirty.  You know, to be a good Christian steward of that ministry tool given to me all those years ago.

SIGH.