WWJD
Recently, after returning from their summer camps one of the boys asked for a WWJD bracelet. I recall having a WWJD bracelet myself years ago, but since I love to throw things away, it could be in any trash dump between here and Georgia. Plus, this gave me a reason to hop onto Amazon and do some shopping. Heeeyyy! Two days later, there were WWJD bracelets wrapped around the boys’ arms. Shortly after putting them on, their arms were wrapped around each other in wrestling matches.
One of these brotherly-love sessions ended with not much love for each other. Wrestling matches can easily lead to yelling. So, here came momma with her wisdom and shame-throwing to try to make it all better, saying, “You boys are wearing these What Would Jesus Do bracelets, but your actions show What Would Judas Do attitudes.”
You won’t be surprised that my words stopped me in my tracks more than they did the boys. Which is probably why Jesus reminds us to check the plank in our own eye before calling out the splinter in another. I remember standing there tuning out the brawl happening around me and focusing on the behavior in me.
I grabbed my Bible to read again the full story of Judas’ betrayal at the last supper in the book of John. It wasn’t Judas’ conduct that caused me to pause, but Jesus’. Jesus said, “The one who takes this piece of bread is the one who will betray me.” Judas took the bread. Jesus didn’t force him to take it, but He didn’t give Judas a hard time after he took it or lean over to his buddies to talk bad about him once he left either. Instead, he just gave him something. He was giving him a chance to change his mind. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that when we are tempted, he will provide a way out so that we can endure it. As Judas chose to accuse, Jesus surrendered to be abused, using the ugly for our undeserved good and for God’s well-deserved glory. It was God’s plan all along – he knew the purpose that would come from Jesus’ pain.
Oh, how many times I’ve been the leaner at the table with conversation starters like, “I can’t believe they did that…”, “Did you hear about…”, or “How could they…” Knowing that falling into that kind of verbal wrestling match won’t conceive anything healthy or good. Yet, the words flow out of my mouth as smooth as the creamer flows into my coffee. They just don’t taste as good once I’ve let them out.
So, each day I set a new goal to ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” To remember the practice of renewing my mind day by day so I can truly know God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. Whatever day you’re reading this, I’ve probably already failed, but I’ll get back up and try again because He is faithful to love me even through my shortcomings and I want to be faithful to love others through theirs.