Why You Shouldn’t Ask WWJD if You Want To Follow Jesus
Why freestyle when you've been given the blueprint?
We’ve all seen bracelets with that four letter question: WWJD?
What would Jesus do?
The bracelets help us be more thoughtful. More reflective as we go through our days instead of simply reacting to what life throws at us. Having those letters on a bracelet keeps the question in sight and in mind.
Asking WWJD is aspirational but also subjective. It’s a hypothetical question that relies on our imagination to answer. And we tend to answer in ways that confirm our biases about Jesus. Ways that reflect our highest values, not necessarily his.
This is important because it’s easy to have a flawed take on Jesus. WWJD? Surely something that makes sense to me, right? But when you read Jesus in the gospels he often defies our expectations. He surprised the people of his generation as well. It turns out it’s not so easy to predict what Jesus will do. He doesn’t act and speak like we expect.
Thankfully there’s another question we can ask that’s even better than WWJD:
What did Jesus do?
Like WWJD this question is aspirational. But unlike WWJD it’s objective. We can study Jesus’ life and find the answer. We don’t have to rely on hypotheticals or our biased imaginations.
More importantly, this is the question Jesus expects his followers to ask and answer. He lived purposefully and his life was recorded as a blueprint for us to follow.
“You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right, for so I am. And I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” 1
Asking the right question makes all the difference.
Discipleship is a lifelong journey of asking “What did Jesus do?” and then arranging our lives to follow in his footsteps.
John 13.13-15