WWJD?

Posted on January 17, 2014 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

I haven’t seen one in a while, but bracelets with the letters WWJD had some popularity at one time. The acronym stands for “what would Jesus do?” and was a reminder to follow Jesus in responding to a particular situation or question. I think that this is a worthy question to ask in any situation.

My problem is not with the theory behind the question, it is with the implementation. The problem lies in really understanding what Jesus would do.

In the Gospels, we have many episodes recorded where Jesus did exactly what he was not expected to do. A lame man was brought to Jesus so that he could walk again and Jesus forgave his sins (Mark 2:1-12). The woman caught in adultery was defended in front of the angry crowd (John 8:1-11). A rich man was told by Jesus that he needed to give away all his wealth (Matthew 19:16-22). A man from whom a legion of demons was expelled was told that he could not follow Jesus but should go home (Mark 5:18-19). These are just a few examples that come immediately to mind.

Yes, we can learn from these and begin to understand how Jesus responded to situations and people. But, as I see it, there are two problems in implementing the WWJD framework.

Love like Jesus loved

First, we cannot love the way that Jesus loved. I have observed in myself and in others that it is hard to see past my own needs, wants and shortcomings. I put everything through the grid of “what is good for Mark?” Yet Jesus put everything through the grid of what was good for the other person. Paul tells us in Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:3–8, ESV)

I see plenty of selfish ambition in myself, and I have observed it in others in the church. As a result of the fall of man, this is our default position. To implement the WWJD framework, we must understand and seek to counteract the selfish impulse.

See as Jesus sees

The second struggle in implementing WWJD is that we have a limited understanding. Jesus not only loved more deeply than we are capable of loving, he has a better understanding of the heart of the people. In John 2:24-25, the evangelist tells us:

“But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (ESV)

To respond as Jesus would respond in every situation requires a wisdom and understanding that is supernatural. Jesus had the ability to see beyond all the pretense and delusion and respond in grace and truth (John 1:14). To really do what Jesus would do requires a thoughtful examination of my own motivations and the motivations of the person or persons I am dealing with at the time.

Get out of the way

Trying to respond to every situation as Jesus would do is a worthy goal. To do it, however, requires thoughtful examination of the situation, keeping in mind my own proclivity toward selfishness. I need to love as Jesus loved while remaining conscious of the effect of man’s defective sense of morality.

The good news is that I do not have to pursue this goal in my own strength and wisdom. In a similar struggle to learn contentment, Paul tells us “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, ESV) Jesus tells us that he is with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). He also confirms that we will struggle but that he wins in the end (John 16:33).

I am not alone in the battle. I just need to stop getting in the way of the one who can win it.

Turn to God As Your Study Buddy

Posted on January 14, 2014 Written by Ian MacArthur 7 Comments

This is a guest post by Ian MacArthur. If you are interested in becoming a guest author, please see the guest post guidelines and use the Attempts At Honesty contact form.

Education is something that we value greatly because it is our ticket to a brighter future. We try hard to produce positive results at any challenge we go through. Learning is definitely important, but it is not easy for some individuals such as myself. I have a hard time completing my academic responsibilities because of all the activities, stress and exhaustion that comes with academic life. Luckily, I managed to find someone who can help me in my predicament and times of need. You can call him as a “study buddy” if you will.

For me, a study buddy is someone who can help you answer the hardest questions you’re faced with or someone who can encourage you to do something that seemed difficult at first. Everyone can find one if they look really hard. After doing my own searching, I’ve found mine and it’s none other than our lord and savior, God. Believe it or not, turning to God has helped me a lot in my studies and I consider him as the best study buddy that I’ve been with. However, I’m not asking God to help me in the way you might be thinking such as the answer to question #14 at my science exam. No, nothing like that.

Not to brag, but I’m doing pretty well in college. It’s just that I’m having problems with other things that are much more personal. I remember last year when I entered college and I was already plagued with various questions such as, can I do it? Will I be able to comply with every assignment or paperwork my teacher gives me? Am I good enough? These questions can really dishearten any person which is why I tried talking to my friends. I received a lot of advice which was good and positive, but sadly, it’s not what I was looking for. I’m grateful that they took the time to listen to me and gave me helpful suggestions. However, I was still lost and didn’t know what to do.

It all changed after I made a call at home. At the time of the call, I was also homesick. Luckily, my uncle, who is a pastor, decided to pay a visit on my parent’s house. He is one of my relatives from whom I have sought guidance in the past. When I told him about my predicament, he simply asked me why would I not turn to God for answers? He said that God will be able to give me the answers I’m looking for. Before passing the phone onto my parents, he gave me a few phrases to read on the bible. I can definitely say that it helped because I felt relieved and enlightened after reading some of it. Although I may not be able to remember the exact wording of the scriptures, I took each verse to heart. Here are those phrases.

“Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.”
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

Through these verses, I was able to overcome my doubts which has enabled me to excel not only in academics, but spiritually and emotionally as well. Like I said earlier, A study buddy is someone who will be able to help you if ever you’re stuck with a problem that you can’t solve on your own and God has been able to help me when I was buried with self-doubts. So if you’re going through the same thing I did, why not consider God to become your study buddy? I guarantee that you wouldn’t regret it.

Walking worthy

Posted on December 30, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments

At the outset of this post, I must offer the caveat that what I have heard and what I was taught may be two different things. The Christianity that I have ingested in my church experience may not be what was intended by those who were teaching.

I have often heard part of Colossians 1:10 quoted where it says, “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” When quoted, the emphasis was on the Christian behaving in a “Christian” manner. The test being external conformity to a standard of behavior for the purpose of keeping rules and looking good.

To understand what Paul intended by this phrase, we must look at the context of this saying to get the full meaning.

In the preceding verse, Paul writes:

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” (Colossians 1:9, ESV)

From the context, we see that “walking worthy” is a result of spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. But this is not the only result. As I read it there are eight results that all work together and can be found in verses 10-12:

We walk worthy of the Lord (Col 1:10)
We become pleasing to God (Col 1:10)
We bear fruit in every good work (Col 1:10)
We increase in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10)
We are strengthened with all power (Col 1:11)
We have endurance and patience with joy (Col 1:11)
We give thanks to the Father (Col 1:12)
We share in the inheritance of the saints (Col 1:12)

Like the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, these traits should all be operational, we cannot pick out just one of the results and emphasize it to the exclusion of others. If you are going to encourage someone to “walk worthy” you must also encourage them toward the other items on this list.

If you look at the list, many of the results are primarily internal. Endurance and patience are internal rather than external traits. While the absence of patience can sometimes be detected in another, the presence of it is more difficult to assess.

The point is that any external manifestation of the spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding should be evidence of an internal reality that makes the external manifestation a true one. We can’t fake it until we make it. The passage in no way encourages us to merely external conformity to a set of rules or a standard of behavior. It is internal transformation that is pointed to as the result.

Without this internal transformation, Christianity is reduced to another form of behavioral modification. While changing the external behavior may have positive benefits, without the internal change, the benefit is temporary and will not bring about the change that the Apostle Paul desires.

So, it is not wrong to encourage someone to “walk worthy of the Lord” as long as we understand that the “worthy” is determined by God and is gauged by the internal and not the external reality. This verse is not a club to be used to bash people into conformity to a list of do’s and don’ts. It is not to be wielded in this way to squelch behaviors that make us feel uncomfortable.

We need to create church environments where it is OK for the outside of a man to reflect what is going on in the inside. We are all a mess and Jesus is in the process of making us less messy. But we should not subvert God’s cleanup process by forcing our self or others into a disingenuous external conformity.

Righteousness before men

Posted on December 23, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 7 Comments

This is the 19th post in the Sermon on the Mount Series.

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 6:1

From what I can see of myself and the rest of humanity, I conclude that Jesus made this statement precisely because we have a tendency to try to appear more “spiritual” than we really are.

How honest are you really when someone at church asks you how you are doing?

We can use the excuse that we cannot wear our hearts on our sleeves and tell everyone around us about all of our concerns. Yet there has got to be something better than feeling pressured to respond that everything is fine when it is not.

Pride is the primary motivator to give people the impression that things are good, even when they are not. The desire to be liked and respected can cause me to misrepresent how I am really doing.

Another factor is that there are some (and the church has its share of them) who will indeed look down on the one who is honest about his struggles and failures. My guess is that we all know at least one person who’s speck meter is working much better than their log meter (see Matthew 7:3-5).

When we encounter a lack of grace and acceptance, it really hurts. The first time someone gets slammed for their honesty is perhaps the last time honesty is practiced. If grace is not a part of the group culture, then superficiality will rule the day.

The antidote for this can be found in Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians.

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

When Samuel was before Jesse’s sons to pick a king for Israel, he was impressed with Eliab, but God had other plans. God told Samuel, “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 26:7). I may fool some of the people some of the time, but I will never fool God.

For the Christian there should be no incentive to try to appear more holy than we are. Our salvation is entirely by faith and we contribute nothing to it. Why then the pretense? If I cannot earn my salvation and there is nothing I can do to lose it, then why would I want to make people think that I am better than I am?

It keeps coming back to pride. Pride is what drives me to put on a pretense of being all squared away. Pride is the reason that I cannot be honest about my failures. Pride is the reason I maintain a willful blindness to my own faults and weaknesses.

As indicated above, the antidote is humility, but where does this come from? For me, the best way to foster humility is the reading of Scripture. Scripture is the most accurate mirror for my soul. Through the reading of Scripture I can see how far short of spiritual perfection I fall. Through the reading of Scripture I see the standard by which I should judge myself.

But is also through the reading of Scripture that I learn of grace. God has grace for me, the one who so desperately needs it. I can then channel that grace into the lives of others.

Rather than putting on a pretense of a holiness I do not possess, I can operate in a grace that is given to me for distribution to others. When grace is operational, the motivation to pretense should be at its lowest.

I’ll close with the chorus of a familiar hymn:

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God’s grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin!