{"id":4994,"date":"2019-05-19T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-19T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4994"},"modified":"2019-02-27T20:33:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T02:33:50","slug":"choose-to-do-what-jesus-would-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4994","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Do What Jesus Would Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choices change our lives\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat would Jesus do?\u201d was once a catchy phrase used by the Christian community. People were encouraged to ask themselves this question as a guideline for living the Christian life. Bracelets were sold with the abbreviation WWJD on them as a reminder to act the way Jesus would act.<\/p>\n

All in all, it\u2019s not a bad idea \u2013 as long as we are sure we know what Jesus would do in a given situation. Too many times we think Jesus likes what we like or hates what we hate. We transpose our preferences to Jesus, rather than His preferences to us. What Jesus would do in some cases might surprise us.<\/p>\n

Would Jesus drink beer? Maybe. His first miracle was turning water into wine. I can\u2019t help but think He would have had a little taste, too. But drinking an alcoholic beverage and getting drunk are two different things. (John 2:1-10, Matthew 11:19)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus be filled with compassion? Would He cry? Maybe. The Bible says He wept when Lazarus died, even though He had the power to bring him back to life. (John 11:35)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus hang around with sinners? Maybe. He did in biblical times. In fact, He was called a friend to sinners. (Matthew 11:19)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus get angry? Maybe. Anger in itself is not wrong, but wrong use of that anger is. The Bible says, \u201cBe angry and sin not.\u201d (Ephesians 4:26) Jesus turned over the tables of the moneychangers that were outside the temple, which indicates he was a tad bit upset. (Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus have apprehension? Maybe. The night before He was crucified He asked God if there was any other way. (Matthew 26:39)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus get frustrated? Maybe. He seemed a little irritated with three of the disciples when He took them on the mountain so He could pray and they kept falling asleep. (Matthew 26:40)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus confuse the issue? Maybe. He certainly did when He said those who don\u2019t eat my flesh and drink my blood have no part of me. Many left His side that day because they thought He was speaking literally. (John 6:53-66)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus have a best friend? Maybe. The Bible alludes to the fact that He was a little closer to John than the other disciples. (John 21:20)<\/p>\n

Would Jesus have modern ideas? Maybe. He was certainly progressive for His time. He treated all people \u2013 even Samaritans and women \u2013 with dignity and respect. That was unheard of in those days. (John 4:7-9)<\/p>\n

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Consider this\u2026 Many don\u2019t know what Jesus would do because they don\u2019t know what Jesus did. They rely on what they have heard from others or what they think. It might be helpful to read the first four books of the New Testament without any preconceived ideas about Jesus. What Jesus would do might surprise you.<\/p>\n

One final thought\u2026<\/strong> Sometimes our bracelets would be WWPD (What Would a Pharisee Do) rather than WWJD. That should give us something to think about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choices change our lives\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren \u201cWhat would Jesus do?\u201d was once a catchy phrase used by the Christian community. People were encouraged to ask themselves this question as a guideline for living the Christian life. Bracelets were sold … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}