WWJD

WWJD....What would Jesus do? I had a book, In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon, that told a story about a church and its pastor that challenged the congregant members to live their lives based on that question for a full year.

Not all accepted the challenge, only a handful. Those that did were to make every decision, action and word based on how they thought Jesus would. Tough row to hoe, that one! Lives changed dramatically as they moved through this challenge. They had to accept the fallout and consequences of these decisions; there were many. Relationships lost, money given away, jobs changed, miracles happened, people saved; life as they knew it was over. Through it all they grew in their understanding of Christ and learned how difficult the task to live a life based on Him; they came to love Him more and handed down that legacy.

I inherited my skinny nose and small mouth from my paternal grandmother. One memory I have is her sitting in a rocking chair by the window with curtains billowing in the breeze, reading the Bible at night. We hand down all kinds of things, shouldn't a strong faith legacy be one of them? She never talked to me about it that I recall but I can still picture it. My maternal grandfather was a tent revival preacher;not as a vocation but as a passion and calling. I don't recall him ever talking to me about it either but I went to revivals with him in the summers. They each deposited their faith in me.

Not everything we inherit from our family is a good thing. Diabetes runs in my mom's family; that's not cool. Prejudices are common inheritances; the foods we eat are, too. There are so many things in our lives that we've inherited; they came without intent for the most part. Does it not stand to reason then that we should intentionally pass down constructive, positive, live-giving, faith building, Jesus following practices?

No one starts out planning to mess up their own lives, not to mention messing up their kids, but we do. We can't change the past but we can change the future. If we choose to make our lives the example of a WWJD mentality, we can choose what we hand down to our children. If we walk it, talk it, live it and eat it, we can start building up the 'account' we pass down. If we make ourselves aware, holding our own actions, thoughts, deeds and words to that standard, we are making daily positive deposits into their future.

I don't know about you, but I've made too many mistakes to even try to count. I shudder to think about the size of that account! While I can't empty it out and start over, I can work to dwarf its size by building up a new inheritance account.

I have to challenge myself every day regarding my actions; asking myself if Jesus would act the way I am acting. It's frustrating when my flesh is screaming out and I realize I am not yet where I want to be. However, I want to saturate my children and grandchildren with a good inheritance mentality. I want all the automatic stuff they do to be based on WWJD.

Our kids are all grown. The best I can do is be a better role model now than I was before. I can lead only by example. I do not believe the bank is closed for making deposits into their inheritance, so whatever I put in at this point has got to be good. I have to live WWJD to be able to pass it down. I do not hit the mark every time. There is a lot of work left to do in me, but I choose to pass down the WWJD mentality whatever the cost to me personally.

It is a challenge, just as in the book. There are consequences; some good, some painful. The end result is drawing closer to a Christ-like life and character. If it was easy, it wouldn't be a challenge, would it? So, what do you think Jesus would do?