What if
What would Jesus do” or for short “WWJD.”
It is the best guide for the right character and attitude. Jesus was the epitome of humility, obedience and faith. So whenever I hear hurting words, get humiliated, feel shortchanged, want to retaliate, give in to helplessness or anxious on what to do, I would tell myself WWJD. That puts me back on track to be humble (swallow my pride and bite my tongue), to be obedient (God said love your enemies and so I must though we all know it’s sooo hard to do!) and to be faithful (I trust that God will turn around any bad circumstance into something good if I remain in Him).
What if Jesus comes to your house?
Would you cringe in nervousness and start rearranging thing? Or push the panic button because you don’t know what He would want to eat? If you still have enough presence of mind, you’d remember that He must be treated well as a guest at your house. You may go into the hustle and bustle of making Him comfortable just like what Martha did when Jesus visited her and Mary. But remember what He said about the latter when she simply sat at His feet, eagerly listened and learned from Him. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better (to do).” (Luke 10:43).
So let’s not get into the major-major thing of serving him only but more importantly, make time to sit there and listen to His Voice. This means that even if He wouldn’t visit our house at all, we are still welcoming him by fully embracing Him in our daily lives and give Him the adoration that He desires.
In her song, singer Joan Osborne asked, “What if God has a name? Would you call him by that name and look at his eyes?
If you’ve experienced healing, you’d call God the Healer. If you’ve been saved from debts and financial crisis, you’d call God the Great Provider. If you’ve been saved from an accident, you’d call God your Mighty Protector. God is omnipotent and omniscient—all-powerful and everywhere. No other name can be above His Name. So if you declare His great attributes, that’s His Name and yes, you can look at His eyes while saying these names because your heart is full of love and thanksgiving for what He has done for you.
The song dishes out more questions:
When face-to-face with God, what would you as if you had only one question?
Will you dare ask if you deserve to be in Heaven? Well, I may ask Him if my late husband is with Him. But can we ask only one question or, worse, can we get to ask a question when His glory overcomes us?
The song continues, “What if God was one of us? Just a slob like some of us? Just s stranger on the bus to make his way home.”
Well, it’s hard to believe Jesus will be a slob! But He may be like anyone of us when we feel lonely and alone trying to go through life’s challenges. Or He can be like anyone of us who feel like a stranger because we think no one loves us for what we are. Actually He already did feel like a stranger more than 2,000 years ago when after doing all those miracles, people still shouted at Him with condemning words: “Crucify Him!”
But though He died on the cross, He fought back the feeling of self-pity and abandonment by crying out to His Father, “Into your hands I commend my Spirit!” These are words we can declare to God as we surrender to Him all our troubles and struggles when we feel we can’t take the pressures anymore. Let go and let God’s will be done.
The song’s final question is this: “If God had a face, what would it look like?” No one actually saw God’s “face”, even Moses himself. The Bible’s emphatic statement that “God is a spirit” (John. 4:24) means God does not have a physical face. But we can be “face-to-face” with God when we have an intimate relationship with Him. And then we can be in His direct presence as if “seeing His face” and enter the true kind of rest.
There could be endless “what if” questions about God. What if He didn’t create the world in seven days? What if He didn’t send Jesus to die on the cross? What if Jesus didn’t resurrect?
Life in itself can be full of “what ifs” in itself. Nothing wrong. But let’s not get stuck with just the questions. Move forward.
So if God has name, call on Him always. If He has a “face,” seek His presence and enjoy peace. If He would come to your house, regard it as entering your heart, meaning live with love, kindness and humility—not with hatred, selfishness and pride. If you can ask Him one question, then do this every day so you would know what He wants you to do. At the end of your lifetime, you would have stopped asking and just tell Him, “I am yours, Lord.”
And if Jesus was humble, obedient and faithful, then be like Him. Do what He would do even in trying times. You’d never go wrong.
What if I didn’t accept Jesus as my personal Savior? I wouldn’t be writing you this now.
