What Wouldn't Jesus Do?

In our Western culture, we have developed a strange inverted morality. What is dangerous in secular culture is doubly pernicious within Christianity. We wear bracelets on our wrists which read “WWJD,” of course standing for “What Wouldn’t Jesus Do?” 

What’s that? You don’t think that negative suffix is there? Perhaps not officially, but in practice it absolutely is. We’ve developed a mindset in which our decisions are based not on doing what is right but on doing what is not wrong. 

Let me explain this by way of example: Jesus tells us to love our neighbors(1) as ourselves. So what do we do? Well, we don’t gossip about our neighbors, etc, all the way down to not allowing our dog to defecate in our neighbors’ yard. But love is not a passive thing. We think we’re loving our neighbors (we’ll not even go into the “as ourselves,” since we fall so far short even without unpacking that), when in actuality all we’re doing is avoiding maliciousness toward our neighbors. Several years ago my friend Jesse pointed out to me that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. Though I’ve heard this many times since, that first time has never left my brain. And in this scenario this is exactly what we see. 

Avoiding sin is not righteousness. So should we continue to sin that grace may abound? God forbid (see Romans 8). But at the same time, avoiding sin is morally neutral. Righteousness is righteous. Perhaps, instead of not gossiping about our neighbors, we should bake them cookies or mow their lawn. 

Don’t get me wrong: the gospel is certainly not a list of dos and don’ts. This being said, we see, especially in the Old Testament, references to joy in the law and the commandments of the Lord. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is all about David’s delight in the law of the LORD. I am taken aback by v. 18, as it is so outside of my traditional mindset:
Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wondrous things out of your law. 
The law is certainly not the first place I would think to look for wondrous things. And yet that’s where David goes. 

I’m certainly not saying that morality is more important than grace. The gospel is not about being a good person. We should not become better us, because better us still sucks. But at the same time, we will be known by our fruits. This is not a conclusion. These are just some thoughts I had today. Dialogue? 

(1) I realize that Jesus goes on to explain that our neighbors are not just the people whom we live next to. However, for the sake of the illustration I am going to take neighbors literally. The points are still applicable as we expand the metaphor. 

In our Western culture, we have developed a strange inverted morality. What is dangerous in secular culture is doubly pernicious within Christianity. We wear bracelets on our wrists which read “WWJD,” of course standing for “What Wouldn’t Jesus Do?” 

What’s that? You don’t think that negative suffix is there? Perhaps not officially, but in practice it absolutely is. We’ve developed a mindset in which our decisions are based not on doing what is right but on doing what is not wrong. 

Let me explain this by way of example: Jesus tells us to love our neighbors(1) as ourselves. So what do we do? Well, we don’t gossip about our neighbors, etc, all the way down to not allowing our dog to defecate in our neighbors’ yard. But love is not a passive thing. We think we’re loving our neighbors (we’ll not even go into the “as ourselves,” since we fall so far short even without unpacking that), when in actuality all we’re doing is avoiding maliciousness toward our neighbors. Several years ago my friend Jesse pointed out to me that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. Though I’ve heard this many times since, that first time has never left my brain. And in this scenario this is exactly what we see. 

Avoiding sin is not righteousness. So should we continue to sin that grace may abound? God forbid (see Romans 8). But at the same time, avoiding sin is morally neutral. Righteousness is righteous. Perhaps, instead of not gossiping about our neighbors, we should bake them cookies or mow their lawn. 

Don’t get me wrong: the gospel is certainly not a list of dos and don’ts. This being said, we see, especially in the Old Testament, references to joy in the law and the commandments of the Lord. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is all about David’s delight in the law of the LORD. I am taken aback by v. 18, as it is so outside of my traditional mindset:
Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wondrous things out of your law. 
The law is certainly not the first place I would think to look for wondrous things. And yet that’s where David goes. 

I’m certainly not saying that morality is more important than grace. The gospel is not about being a good person. We should not become better us, because better us still sucks. But at the same time, we will be known by our fruits. This is not a conclusion. These are just some thoughts I had today. Dialogue? 

(1) I realize that Jesus goes on to explain that our neighbors are not just the people whom we live next to. However, for the sake of the illustration I am going to take neighbors literally. The points are still applicable as we expand the metaphor. 

What Wouldn't Jesus Do?