WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? 1/19/09

In my early career as a Secretary/Clerk I found myself learning how to defend my faith through the premises of doing as you are instructed. Don, who was one of the departmental administrators would bring shipping requests to me. I would create a shipping voucher and an invoice of which a copy would be shipped with the item and the rest would be mailed to the buyer upon verification of shipment. At the end of the month he would bring quite a few shipping requests into me. The dollar amounts of these shipments would be placed on the monthly financial status report and he would be looking good. At the beginning of the month he would bring several cancellations of those shipments in and the new month would start out with a big negative. It took me several months to see that Don was filling the same orders every month and then cancelling them. I didn’t care what Don was doing, but I didn’t want to be a part of it. I realized this was only washing each month but I didn’t like the connotations.

The next time Don brought the shipping orders in, I checked with the shipping department and only filled the ones that were actually ready for shipment. He came in and asked for the rest. I refused to do them! He stomped around and left my office and went into the CEO’s office and complained. I knew I would be in trouble but I felt this was causing me to compromise my faith.

The complaint went as high as the President of the company and I was eventually called into his office. He asked me about the problem and immediately I began to cry. I knew this man liked me and I didn’t think he really knew what to do about my tears. After I finished telling my side of the story, he told me to go back to my office and that he would see to it that only those items being shipped would be invoiced in the future.

Needless to say, Don wasn’t very thrilled working with me but I felt so much better about myself. I have carried these principles with me throughout my private and public working career. Sometime during the 90's a slogan appeared within the youth programs in the churches. "What would Jesus do"! I loved that and wish I had thought up that phrase and put it on pins, bracelets and on necklaces. It says it all! I always want to do what Jesus would do!

Jesus pretty much outlines in His "Sermon on the Mount" what He would do. Matthew chapters 5 - 7 gives us a clear idea what He wants from His followers. He starts out with what we call the Beatitudes. Clearly, if we are people who do these things, how blessed we would be. He tells us that we are salt and light to the world! Unless our righteousness exceeds that of the religious leaders we would never enter the kingdom of heaven. He reminds us about the ten commandments and says that even if we think of doing these things we are just as guilty as if we had done them. We are to let our yes be yes, our no be no and nothing more. We are to resist retaliation for those who hurt us. We are to love our neighbors and enemies. When we give, do it in secret. We are not to toot our own horns. We are to pray in secret for our Father sees and hears in secret. We are not to seek riches here on earth but store up treasures in heaven. We are to trust in God only and be free of anxiety. We are not the judge as God is the only true judge.
We are to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We are to use the narrow gate only. We are to beware of false leaders and we are to be known by our fruits.

In Chapter 7:21 Jesus says; "Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven". Sometimes it is hard to remember to ask ourselves; "What would Jesus do"? Sometimes we find ourselves at a crossroads and stand there wondering which way to turn. However, it is important for our credibility and our own personal happiness to ask "WWJD"! Is it all, or nothing at all? By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/5/08