365 WWJD: Daily Answers to What Would Jesus Do?

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This book is dedicated to the generation of Christians who, through their honest asking of “What Would Jesus Do?” have the potential to change our world.

And to a great mom, Patricia Ann Harrison

CONTENTS

E-Book Extra: Excerpts from Charles M. Sheldon's In His Steps (1896)

234

Dedication

ii

Introduction

1

JANUARY 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

3

FEBRUARY 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29

21

MARCH 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

39

APRIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

58

MAY 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

75

JUNE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

93

JULY 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

111

AUGUST 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

128

iv

21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 SEPTEMBER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

145

OCTOBER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

163

NOVEMBER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

179

DECEMBER 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

195

Afterword

212

Author Index

213

Permissions

228

Acknowledgements

233

About the Author

255

Also by Nick Harrison

256

Credits

257

Cover Copyright

258

About the Publisher

259

v

INTRODUCTION

A LITTLE MORE than a century ago, in 1896, Charles Sheldon, a Congreg-

ationalist minister, wrote a series of Sunday school lessons that became a book called In His Steps. Each chapter, as it was written, was read to the youth in Reverend Sheldon’s Central Congregational Church in Topeka, Kansas. Because of the author’s oversight in securing a copyright, the book was quickly reprinted by sixteen different American publishers and fifty international publishers. Since then, the book has never been out of print and for the first half of the twentieth century it was the second best-selling book of all time, trailing only the Bible. In His Steps tackled the challenging question of what would happen if the members of a church who were living comfortable, secure lives were to “pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question, ‘What Would Jesus Do?’” This was the challenge put to the members of the fictional First Church of Raymond by their pastor, Reverend Henry Maxwell. The situations these ordinary people faced as a result of this pledge have fascinated more than six million readers since the book was first published. Now, a century later, the four simple words of that all-important question have been taken up again as the WWJD? phenomenon has swept the Christian church on the eve of the third millennium. Young and old are daily reminded to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” through the appearance of those four letters, WWJD?, on T-shirts, posters, bracelets, bumper stickers, and even shoelaces. Just as the fictional town of Raymond was profoundly affected by the year-long pledge taken by the members of the First Church, so too can our communities, states, and nation be changed by individual Christians who try to live out simply, daily, the WWJD? life in their everyday affairs. For the next year, I invite you to take this same challenging pledge—a pledge that the Apostle John says is a surefire test of our Christian faith:

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“This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:5-6). In organizing a book of devotions that summons readers to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” I’ve chosen some excellent readings and quotes from men and women who are remembered today because of their willingness to do what Jesus would do. After a brief excerpt from the writing of these mentors, I offer a brief WWJD? Reflection as a practical consideration of the day’s reading. One year from now may our lives be richer for having taken the time to learn the lessons gained by answering “What Would Jesus Do?” —Nick Harrison

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JANUARY JANUARY 1 Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 3:13-14 It is never wise to live in the past. There are, indeed, some uses of our past which are helpful, which bring blessing. We should remember our past lost condition to keep us humble and faithful. We should remember past mercies, that we may have confidence in new needs or trials in the future. We should remember past comforts, that there may be stars in our sky when night comes again. But while there are these true uses of memory, we should guard against living in the past. We should draw our life’s inspirations not from memory, but from hope; not from what is gone, but from what is yet to come. Forgetting the things which are behind, we should reach forward unto those things which are before.—J. R. Miller WWJD? REFLECTION Every one of us made mistakes last year. Every one of us, if we could, would recant on words spoken, deeds done, deeds left undone, decisions made. We are at the dawn of a new year. Ahead there may be similar pitfalls, along with some wonderful unexpected joys—all in the measure in which God apportions them to us. Today is the perfect day to discard the mistakes and confess the sins of the past year with the realization that a confessed sin is a forgiven and forgotten sin in the eyes of God. Let go of all the failures of the past year. Set your eyes on the months ahead with anticipation. Do as Jesus did when He “steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, KJV)—no looking back.

Treasure last year’s victories. Forgive last year’s hurts. Forget last year’s disappointments. “Behold, I make all things new.”—Revelation 21:5, KJV

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JANUARY 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.—2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the gospel every day. If necessary, use words.—Francis of Assisi WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus looked for ways to preach the good news to those in His path—Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the rich young ruler. Today, if you watch with Jesus’ eyes, there will be an opportunity to preach the gospel to someone. Maybe with words, maybe with deeds of kindness. Maybe with both.

JANUARY 3 He was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.—Isaiah 53:7, KJV Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces—sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.—Matthew Henry The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus Christ was afflicted, yet He “opened not his mouth.” To live a life as a human being means to know affliction—often many afflictions. When we allow God to make good soldiers out of us through affliction, we cooperate with His eternal purpose for us. Far too often, because it is a hidden purpose and we can’t see the good in it, we recoil from the afflictions of God. Yet if we could see perfectly, wouldn’t we, as Jesus did, receive what the Father has for us without complaining? Today, don’t allow any affliction that assaults you to rob you of the joy that accompanies God’s afflictions. In passing through the fire, you’ll not be burned, but purified.

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JANUARY 4 “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”—Jeremiah 31:3, KJV A man in a psychiatrist’s office was overheard saying, “Make me sure that there is a God of love and I shall go away a well man.” His cry is the cry of all of us: make us sure there is a God of love. It’s what we desire most, even if we do not have the words to express it.

One of the most difficult Christian doctrines to believe is the incredible value of human beings. It is difficult for many of us to accept God’s love, to believe that God looks upon us and smiles. It is hard, noted [poet] William Blake, to bear the beams of God’s love. We must learn to bear them. What we long to know is that we are loved. To be more specific, we hunger to know that we are accepted as we are, forgiven for all we have done, and cared for by a gracious loving God. When we know this we walk away well.—James Bryan Smith WWJD? REFLECTION God’s everlasting love for His people is breathtaking. That there is nothing that can ever separate us from this love is overwhelming. That many people we know need this love is apparent.

Today, may we learn to “bear the beams of God’s love” and give to others the same unconditional love Christ offered to those He met.

JANUARY 5 “Be still, and know that I am God.”—Psalm 46:10 Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself.

—Teresa of Avila WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus knew the strength of His Father in quietness. Neither His energies nor His words were ever wasted. There’s great power in just resting in Him. He is mighty in His stillness.

Today, find your strength in the same quiet rest of God as did Jesus. Let Him do a deep work in the stillness. Know that He is God.

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JANUARY 6 “Come to me…”—Matthew 11:28 There are none of us so close to him but that we may be nearer, and the secret of our daily Christian life is all wrapped up in that one word, “come.” Nearness is what we are to pursue, and that nearness is capable of indefinite increase. We know not how close to his heart we can lay our aching heads. We know not how near to his fullness we may bring our emptiness. We have never reached the point beyond which no closer union is possible.—Alexander Maclaren WWJD? REFLECTION There’s a bumper sticker that says, “If you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?” God is always in pursuit of us, and yet we so seldom “come” to Him. Instead, it seems, we prefer to “go.” We may go to church, go to Christian concerts, even go to seminars to hear the greatest Bible teachers. All of this is fine—after we obey the most elemental instruction of Jesus: “Come.”

JANUARY 7 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”—Matthew 7:13-14 If you want to find life, not heaven, but life here and now, you must find it through a narrow gate of self-renunciation. This is true in every realm of life. The athlete, who puts himself under a stricter and stricter regime of training, denies himself what others feel free to indulge in, finds physical life and freedom, for he enters by the narrow door.

The student who burns the midnight oil, gathers up spare moments, and denies himself many things finds himself free at last, at home with the ages—he has found intellectual life by the narrow door. The musician who goes through years of self-denying practice, setting

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up higher and higher standards, is at last free and at home in the land of harmony and can make us feel the throb of martial music, or make us sit pensively by the seaside, or hear the roar of the storm. He has found freedom by a narrow door into musical life. There is only one way to life and that is through the narrow gate. —E. Stanley Jones WWJD? REFLECTION Contrary to popular belief, which says there are many avenues that lead to God, Jesus says we actually travel only one of two roads: a broad one, traveled by many; and a narrow one, traveled by only a few. The two roads lead to only one of two destinations—destruction or life. The great mass of humanity have rushed headlong along the broader path. If you look closely, their footprints can be easily seen.

The footprints of Jesus and His followers, however, are found on the narrow road—the one chosen by only a few. Will we choose to be one of those few? To do what Jesus would do, we must daily see His footprints afresh. And they are always on the narrow path that leads to life.

JANUARY 8 Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are.—1 Corinthians 5:6-7 No sin is small. No grain of sand is small in the mechanism of a watch.

—Jeremy Taylor WWJD? REFLECTION The English word “sin” in our Bibles is translated from the Greek word harmatia, which literally means to “miss the mark.” How often, then, do we sin, missing the mark of what we should be? And just as a little yeast can raise the whole loaf, and a small grain of sand can disable a watch, so too can undealt-with sin have a greater effect than we realize. What would Jesus have us do about our sin? Confess, repent, and claim His forgiveness and get on with the business of living for Him.

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JANUARY 9 “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”—John 17:23 Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians? No! Any Presbyterians? No! Any Independents or Methodists? No, no, no! Whom have you there? We don’t know those names here. All who here are Christians…Oh, is this the case? Then God help us to forget party names and to become Christians in deed and truth.—George Whitefield WWJD? REFLECTION The reading above was preached from the courthouse balcony in Philadelphia in 1740. It seems even then that divisiveness among Christians was a flagrant assault on Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17. Today those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” must remember this all-important prayer of the Savior. To put feet to such a prayer, consider a visit to a different type of Christ-honoring church than the one you presently attend. Watch for the creative ways that others worship the Lord. Remind yourself that you are one with these other Christian people—you will spend eternity with them. Respect their Scriptural traditions. Love them. And let them love you too. Dost thou love and fear God? It is enough! I give thee the right hand of fellowship.—John Wesley

JANUARY 10 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.—Psalm 146:2 Our God is not made of stone. His heart is the most sensitive and tender of all. No act goes unnoticed, no matter how insignificant or small. A cup of cold water is enough to put tears in the eyes of God. Like the proud mother who is thrilled to receive a wilted bouquet of dandelions from her child, so God celebrates our expressions of gratitude.—Richard Foster

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WWJD? REFLECTION God notices our actions and hears our praises. A very little deed done in the name of Jesus is much in the eyes of God. Inaudible praises, spoken under our breath, pass through a divine megaphone as they enter heaven.

But let’s not rest with merely the small deed, the inaudible praise. Jesus often prayed to the Father out loud. God wants to hear our words of thanksgiving—and we need to hear ourselves offer expressions of gratitude both for specific things God has done and also for who He is. Praise Him now. Out loud.

JANUARY 11 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.—John 11:5-6 The next time you go into a bank or grocery store at a peak business hour, observe the people waiting. I showed up at my bank at a busy hour one day to find each of the four tellers’ windows busy, with lines of seven and eight people at each. I let loose a sigh so loud that people turned to stare. My impulse was flight: I could leave and return at a less busy time. That would take more time in the long run, of course, but so what? At the moment, saving time wasn’t the issue. What mattered was avoiding the misery of standing still.

I resigned myself, however. At that moment my fight response kicked in. I set my jaw, studying each line as if I were mapping out a military campaign. Which one would be the fastest? I picked the second line, because it was moving. The minute I got in it, however, the woman at the front stepped to the window with a bag full of quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies for the teller to count. As we ground to a halt, everyone, including myself, muttered and fumed. The man in front of me shifted from one foot to the other. A little collar of perspiration had formed around his neck. He switched to another

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line. A moment later the line he’d deserted began to move, and his new line stopped. He was so put out he left the bank in a huff. We were a bank full of quickaholics.—Sue Monk Kidd WWJD? REFLECTION Can you relate? Of course—for we are a society of quickaholics. And yet Jesus was never in a hurry. Even when His dear friend Lazarus was dying, Jesus wasn’t in a hurry. When He arrived at Bethany, Martha, likely a quickaholic, chided Him for not being there sooner.

Watch today for that temptation to grumble when you must wait or are otherwise tempted to impatience. Think about what Jesus would do when faced with a wait. Do what He would do. Embrace the opportunities that waiting offers to quiet yourself, to meditate on the good things around you, to share a smile or a conversation.

JANUARY 12 “I must be about my Father’s business.”—Luke 2:49, KJV We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and be doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will do anything.—John Eliot WWJD? REFLECTION There are some Christians who are said to be “so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.” It’s good to be still before God. It’s good to wait for God’s timing—after all, Jesus didn’t begin His public ministry until He was nearly thirty. But Jesus was a doer, not just a pray-er. There is a specific work for every Christian to do. Have you asked God what you can do in the kingdom? We, like Jesus, must be about our Father’s business.

JANUARY 13 “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

—Mark 12:29-30

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Do you really want to live your lives, every moment of your lives, in His Presence? Do you long for Him, crave Him? Do you love His Presence? Does every drop of blood in your body love Him? Does every breath you draw breathe a prayer, a praise to Him? Do you sing and dance within yourselves, as you glory in His love? Have you set yourselves to be His, and only His, walking every moment in holy obedience?…We have too long been prim and restrained. The fires of the love of God, of our love toward God, and of His love toward us are very hot.—Thomas Kelly WWJD? REFLECTION We Christians all have distractions that creep or sometimes gallop into our daily lives to draw us away from God, that keep us from doing what Jesus would do. What are the most common distractions that rob you of the presence of God? Jesus met such distractions and temptations with a powerful answer from the Word of God. In the face of Scripture, spoken in faith, the enemy must flee. Rout him!

JANUARY 14 “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”—Matthew 25:21 God hasn’t called me to be successful. He’s called me to be faithful.

—Mother Teresa of Calcutta WWJD? REFLECTION After the crucifixion it would have been easy to label Jesus’ ministry a failure. Peter had denied Him, His disciples “went back to their homes,” and Jesus lay in a borrowed tomb. But Jesus had been faithful to His ministry on earth—and, of course, the whole story hadn’t been told yet. The resurrection proved gloriously that to be faithful is to be successful—in God’s eyes, if not the world’s. So too, there is a faithfulness to which God is calling each of us and we must never judge our success by appearances.

God will determine our true success as we do what Jesus would do.

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JANUARY 15 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.—Ecclesiastes 9:10 To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a dungfork in hand, a woman with a slop bucket, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should. So then, brethren, live.—Gerard Manley Hopkins WWJD? REFLECTION Most Christians pass through this world living peaceable lives without renown. To find contentment in “whatever our hand finds to do” is to display ultimate trust in God. To clamor for a lofty position is to lose sight of the joys God has for us where we are. Jesus spent His early adulthood working as a carpenter. Do you think He resented those years or considered the work unworthy?

Rejoice in the duties of today, no matter how undistinguished they may seem, for in them lies the preparation of God.

JANUARY 16 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

—Matthew 6:34 What a vast proportion of our lives is spent in anxious and useless forebodings concerning the future—either our own or those of our loved ones. Present joys, present blessings, slip by, and we miss half their sweet flavor, and all for want of faith in Him who provides for the tiniest insect in the sunbeam. Oh, when shall we learn the sweet trust in God that our little children teach us every day by their simple faith in us? We, who are so mutable, so faulty, so irritable, so unjust; and He who is so watchful, so pitiful, so loving, so forgiving? Why can’t we, slipping our hand into His each day, walk trustingly over that day’s appointed path, thorny or flowery, crooked or straight, knowing that evening will bring us to sleep, peace, and home?—Phillips Brooks

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WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus knew that God was the God of the future as well as the present. Whatever is in store for you today, God has already been there ahead of you to prepare the way. When troubles or joys appear on the horizon, see also the face of God lining the clouds. That’s what Jesus would do.

JANUARY 17 But this happened that we might rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.—2 Corinthians 1:9 Beware of despairing about yourself; you are commanded to put your trust in God, and not in yourself.—Augustine of Hippo WWJD? REFLECTION Time after time God seems to put us in circumstances that demonstrate our remarkable ability to fail at doing what Jesus would do. Why? Because most of us still need occasional lessons in “not relying on ourselves but on God.” When lapses occur, we mustn’t despair. God isn’t angry with us; rather in His love He once again points us to Himself, that He might be our strength—just as He was Jesus’ strength.

JANUARY 18 They shall walk every one in his path.—Joel 2:8, KJV Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well.—Alexander Maclaren WWJD? REFLECTION God has prepared a path for you to walk—it’s not the same path as that of your neighbor, your friend, your family, or anyone else. Accept with joy that specially chosen path. And if there be stones, trust in the provision of the strong shoes that the Lord shall provide. That’s what Jesus would do.

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JANUARY 19 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.—Galatians 2:20 Our God is willing to be powerful, willing to manifest an energy which shall compel men to stand, to wonder, and to pray, not only here but in all lands. It is the power of God unto salvation. If we are to retain, or even to gain, this spirit of compassion, we ourselves must live very near the cross; and abiding by the cross, it is possible for us to be bathed in the compassions that fail not; and with the message upon our lips of Christ; and Him crucified, we shall gather many souls unto God.—John Henry Jowett WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians want to experience the Christ who is triumphant, failing to realize that the triumph comes after the cross. To do what Jesus would do always means counting the cost, considering the cross, abiding in the cross. Those who will thus embrace the cross will find the joy they have so long sought. The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective.—A. W. Tozer

JANUARY 20 Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

—Romans 8:14 Oh what joy it brings to me to think that I am not a lonely wanderer trying to find my way, but that the vague and inexplicable yearnings which I have, and I am following, are the draw-strings thrown out to lead me by One who knows just what my necessities are, and who stands ready to relieve them all!—Henry Ward Beecher WWJD? REFLECTION God has placed in your heart some specific yearnings that are sent to guide you to the place where God would lead you. Follow your godly yearnings. Trust your spiritual instincts as they align with God’s Word. Be led by the same Spirit that led Jesus.

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JANUARY 21 …they get into the habit of being idle…—I Timothy 5:13 Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it.—Horace Mann WWJD? REFLECTION One great enemy of effectiveness in the lives of those who would ask “What Would Jesus Do?” is our tendency to bad habits. As Horace Mann, the father of public education, observed, habits are woven daily until they have the strength of a strong cable in binding us.

Jesus had no bad habits. The Apostle Paul said he would not “be mastered by anything” (I Corinthians 6:12). As we learn to ask “What Would Jesus Do?”, we’re developing a good habit. But we must also deal with those cables of thread—the bad habits—that we’ve accumulated over the years. Many Christians, in an attempt to be free from wrong habits, resort to will power—only to fail again and again. The road to freedom from the threads that bind us is to grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ words, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Today, let’s walk in the same freedom from bondage as did Christ.

JANUARY 22 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.—Deuteronomy 6:12 In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of the work, and quite literally wear our people out as well.

—A. W. Tozer WWJD? REFLECTION When otherwise efficient machinery lacks oil, danger is ahead. Lubrication of the moving parts is critical. When we become so mechanical in our Christian walk that our spiritual joints creak and our work is lethargic, we need a generous lubrication of the oil of God’s Holy Spirit to renew our joy. He must not only be the initiator of our work, but the daily sustainer of it as

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well. Jesus daily renewed fellowship with the Father—and thus was never so engrossed in the work of the Lord that He forgot the Lord of the work.

JANUARY 23 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.—Proverbs 18:9 God has made no promises of mercy to the slothful and negligent. His mercy is only offered to our frail and imperfect, but best endeavors, to practice all manner of righteousness.—William Law WWJD? REFLECTION Let’s examine ourselves. Is idleness a problem? Do we do the Lord’s work with our whole heart, or do we cut corners to save time and effort?

Diligence is a trait found in Christians who are doing what Jesus would do. If it’s not a trait found in us, then let’s ask God to provide us with many opportunities to cultivate diligence. This is a prayer He delights to answer. Watch for a golden opportunity to add diligence to your life today.

JANUARY 24 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

—Acts 16:25 An old gentleman got up once in a meeting and said he had lived nearly all his life on Grumble Street, but not long ago he had moved over to Thanksgiving Street. His face showed it. Paul and Silas in jail at Philippi, when they had received stripes on their backs and had their feet in stocks, still sang praises to God. If some of us were in jail, with our feet in the stocks, I don’t think we would sing much. We want a cheerful Christianity.—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION Have you learned the secret of being thankful, no matter what your circumstances? Jesus was never dismayed or discouraged by

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circumstances and neither should those of us who would do what Jesus would do. If there’s a specific situation that you’ve been wrestling with, that’s been robbing you of joy, now is the time to stop grumbling and thank God for that adversity and trust Him fully to work it out in His time and His way.

JANUARY 25 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”—Luke 4:18 Christ sent me to preach the gospel. He will look after the results….

—Mary Slessor WWJD? REFLECTION Mary Slessor was reared in a poor Scottish home in the mid-nineteenth century. She worked long hours in a factory and received little education. For a while she was a simple Sunday school teacher, but by following the course God had laid out for her, she found herself as a missionary in West Africa, where she worked to abolish slavery and improve the lot of women. She spent the rest of her life on the “dark continent” working endlessly doing what Jesus would do. Mary Slessor is one of many mentors who have repeated the advice that we must preach the gospel and leave the results to God.

JANUARY 26 “Apart from me you can do nothing.”—John 15:5 Feed on Christ, and then go and live your life, and it is Christ in you that lives your life, that helps the poor, that tells the truth, that fights the battle, and that wins the crown.—Phillips Brooks

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WWJD? REFLECTION In doing what Jesus would do, we must never feel as if we are under some legalistic mandate for which we have no strength. God, by His grace, will enable us to do all that is needful. The secret to such strength is to feed on Him regularly and learn of Him. The result will be that we’ll do what He would do because, as Phillips Brooks says, it’s Christ in us that lives our life.

JANUARY 27 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”—John 13:15 God never gave a man a thing to do concerning which it were irreverent to ponder how the Son of God would have done it.—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION When presented with a circumstance in which we’re uncertain how to proceed, it’s never inappropriate to simply imagine what Jesus would do if faced with the same situation. But having once determined what He would do, we need to follow through and do it ourselves.

JANUARY 28 “Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O death, is your victory?”—1 Corinthians 15:55 Take care of your life; and the Lord will take care of your death.

—George Whitefield WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus didn’t spend much time worrying about His death. Even as the Gospel story progresses and Jesus knows that His hour is approaching, He continues fulfilling His mission in life. For each of us, God has a day set aside for us to face death. Why then should we worry? Until that day, let’s just spend our time doing what He did.

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JANUARY 29 Obedience is the test of whether we really live “in God” or not. The life of a man who professes to be living in God must bear the stamp of Christ.—1 John 2:6, PHILLIPS The relationship between God and man is a very practical one. It finds its sphere of operation in the common life. Let us not forget that any relationship whatever between God and man rests today on the fact that God lived the life of a common man—was born in a stable, sweated in a carpenter shop, preached from a little fishing boat, sat down tired beside a well and conversed with a courtesan, ate and drank and walked with ordinary men, and submitted to an ignoble death—in order that we might recognize Him. Nobody called Him a hero or a martyr. He was simply doing what His Father told Him to do, and doing it with delight.

Those who want to know Him must walk the same path with Him. These are the “martyrs” in the Scriptural sense of the word, which means simply “witnesses.” In life, as well as death, we are called to be “witnesses”—to “bear the stamp of Christ.”—Elisabeth Elliot WWJD? REFLECTION When we think of martyrs, we think of persons who have died for their faith. But often martyrs in the true sense of the word as “witnesses” are those who live for their faith—who, like Jesus, delight to do the Father’s will—even in the midst of the common tasks of a simply lived life. Purpose that today the tasks that await you will be entered into with the same joy that Christ knew as He daily walked in the steps His Father had ordained.

JANUARY 30 “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”—John 6:58 Christ is the bread for men’s souls. In Him the Church has enough to feed the whole world.—Ian Maclaren

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WWJD? REFLECTION Evangelism has been explained in this way: A man dying of hunger is approached by a man who offers him free bread—as much as he wants. Of course the dying man accepts the bread, and from then on his mission in life is to search out others who are dying of hunger and introduce them to this man who offers free bread to the hungry. That’s evangelism, plain and simple. We who were dying of hunger have been fed.

When faced with the spiritually hungry, Jesus never remained silent. Is it possible for us to see others hungering and keep silent while One awaits offering free bread to whoever will come?

JANUARY 31 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.—1 Corinthians 12:27 God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission….

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain. —John Henry Newman WWJD? REFLECTION Have you considered your part in the body of Christ? We each “were created to do Him some definite service,” some work “which He has not committed to another.” Often our calling can be found in the daily circumstances in which we find ourselves. Look around. Is your part clearly known? If not, ask Him. He does not play hide and seek with His will for us. And it’s in knowing His will that we can best know how to do what Jesus would do.

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FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 1 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”—Revelation 12:11 In sixteenth-century Holland, the Mennonites were outlawed and, when caught, often executed. One of them, Dirk Willens, was being chased across an icefield when his pursuer broke through and fell in. In response to his cries for help, Willens returned and saved him from the waters. The pursuer was grateful and astonished that he would do such a thing but nevertheless arrested him, as he thought it was his duty to do. A few days later Willens was executed by being burned at the stake in the town of Asperen. It was precisely his Christlikeness that brought on his execution.

—Dallas Willard WWJD? REFLECTION To be utterly unconcerned with our own fate in the pursuit of saving another is the ultimate act in Christlikeness. To die that another might live is the most ardent display of doing what Jesus would do. Such opportunities seem rare to us; nevertheless, the knowledge that we are prepared to die for another, even our enemy, must be always be a part of us. If we are prepared for the ultimate sacrifice, the lesser and more common opportunities for service will be richer.

FEBRUARY 2 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.—1 John 3:9 The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly, its fruits will be flavored by the nature of God. Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut seeds into nut trees, and God seed into God.—Meister Eckhart

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WWJD? REFLECTION The word “seed” is used often in the Bible in connection with believers. In Galatians 3:29 we’re called “Abraham’s seed”; and in 1 Peter 1:23 we’re told that we’ve been born of “imperishable seed.”

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the farmer who sowed seed, some of which was eaten by birds, some of which fell on rocky places or among thorns, and some of which fell on good soil “where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” God has sown seed in our hearts. What kind of harvest does He expect? Certainly He looks for a bumper crop from us—and one way of gauging how well we’ve sprouted is by the fruit of what we are doing. If we do what Jesus would do, God knows the seed has landed in good soil—soil marked by a tender heart and a humble spirit.

FEBRUARY 3 “I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”—Jeremiah 32:40-41 Don’t run your eyes over the promises of God like the wrong pages in a phone book. God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, said, “I will not turn away from doing good to them…. I will rejoice in doing them good…with all my heart and soul.” Let all three promises sink in.

God will not turn away from doing you good. He will keep on doing good. He doesn’t do good to his children sometimes and bad to them other times. He keeps on doing good and he never will stop doing good for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going “bad” that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means he is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving him. He works all things together for good “for those who love him” (Romans 8:28). —John Piper WWJD? REFLECTION Can you consider all the circumstances in your life today and label them as God “doing good” for you? Can you fathom a love

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that will work all things to your good? Is there a circumstance you face that is harder to face than what Jesus faced at the cross?

FEBRUARY 4 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”—Matthew 5:27 Lust is an appetite by which temporal goods are preferred to eternal goods.—Augustine of Hippo WWJD? REFLECTION We live in an age where sexual obsession is part of our culture. Lust is not only easy to entertain mentally, but easy to fulfill in experience. Yet every yielding to thoughts of unfaithfulness or sexual impurity wars against our spiritual life. To be strong during the current onslaught of sexual permissiveness gains us inner strength for other battlefronts as well.

As part of our commitment to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” we must learn to think as He would think.

FEBRUARY 5 We continually remember before our God and Father…your labor prompted by love.—1 Thessalonians 1:3 You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.—Henry Drummond WWJD? REFLECTION What was the coming of Christ to earth all about? Wasn’t it because “God so loved the world”? The entire Bible can be summed up as a book about the love of God for a chosen people. When we grasp the magnitude of the Father’s love for us, we’ll find that love is the purest motivation for our every asking of “What Would Jesus Do?”

Any other motives are wood, hay, and stubble.

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FEBRUARY 6 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

—2 Corinthians 3:18 What we love, we shall grow to resemble.—Bernard of Clairvaux WWJD? REFLECTION As important as it is to focus our daily lives on what Jesus would do, it’s even more crucial to focus on who He is. As we see Him before us in every circumstance, and as we keep our eyes fixed on Him, we can walk on the water of adversity and, better yet, be changed into His image “with ever-increasing glory.”

FEBRUARY 7 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”—John 20:28-29 I have made a covenant with my God that He send me neither visions nor dreams, nor even angels. For I am well satisfied with the gift of Holy Scripture, which gives me abundant instruction and all that I need to know both for this life and for that which is to come.—Martin Luther WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus said that those of us who believe in Him without having seen Him are blessed. Thomas, famous to this day as the “doubter,” the one who had to see to believe, has many modern-day descendants. Christians who trust in visions, dreams, angels, or other subjective experiences to validate their faith will find their spiritual lives rise and fall in rapid succession—what we’ve come to call the “roller-coaster” experience.

Jesus needed no such experiences to live a righteous life, and neither should we.

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FEBRUARY 8 “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.”—Isaiah 1:19 Let the ground of all our actions be obedience. Don’t ask why it’s commanded, but do it because it’s commanded. True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.—Francis Quarles WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus was obedient to the Father’s will—all the way to His death on the cross. Is there something you know that God wants you to do and yet you’ve procrastinated? Wait no longer. Delayed obedience is disobedience.

FEBRUARY 9 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.—Psalm 102:1112 Life passes, riches fly away, popularity is fickle, the senses decay, the world changes. One alone is true to us; One alone can be all things to us; One alone can supply our need.—John Henry Newman WWJD? REFLECTION It’s hard for us to conceive of eternity. Yet the life we have in Christ is eternal life and our future is an eternal future. How foolish we are to êver let material temptations be an issue. Another way of asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is to filter our daily actions though the lens of eternity. Make no decisions that are short-term gains but losses in light of eternity.

FEBRUARY 10 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.—2 Corinthians 5:11

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Far back in my boyhood I remember an old saint telling me that after some services he liked to make his way home alone, by quiet byways, so that the hush of the Almighty might remain on his awed and prostrate soul. That is the element we are losing, and its loss is one of the measures of our poverty, and the primary secret of our inefficient life and service. And what is the explanation of the loss?

Mostly it’s due to our impoverished conception of God…. Men who are possessed by a powerful God can never themselves be impotent. But have we not robbed the Almighty of much of His awful glory, and to that extent are we not ourselves lessened? We have contemplated the beauties of the rainbow, but we have overlooked the dim severities of the throne. We have toyed with the light, but we have forgotten the lightning. We have rejoiced in the fatherhood of our God, but too frequently the fatherhood we have proclaimed has been throneless and effeminate. We have picked and chosen according to the weakness of our own tastes, and not according to the full-orbed revelation of the truth, and we have selected the picturesque and rejected the appalling.—John Henry Jowett WWJD? REFLECTION Some years ago a famous actress, a Christian, was quoted as saying, “I love God, and when you get to know Him, you find He’s a Livin’ Doll.” Although God has identified Himself in Scripture by many names representing His many attributes, I don’t quite know where we’d find a reference that would come close to “Livin’ Doll.” We are all guilty at one time or another of inventing God in our own image—imagining that He approves of the same people, fashions, and politics that we do—and that He hates what we hate. But God, as revealed in the Bible, is not so easily pigeon-holed. And it is this God, the one of both kingly majesty and lowly humility, whom we must serve.

If we would do what Jesus would do, we shall serve the God He served—the one true God, who is at once kingly and majestic, despising all evil, and at the same time lowly and lovely, ever compassionate and forgiving. If we would study to know the God of Jesus Christ, our theology might be in for some interesting changes.

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FEBRUARY 11 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.—Psalm 136:1, KJV Where is the foolish person who would think it in his power to commit more sin than God could forgive?—Francis de Sales WWJD? REFLECTION Have you ever thought that your sin was too much for God to forgive? It’s all well and good to know that when we became Christians, all our past sins were forgiven. But as we progress in the Christian life and find ourselves still falling short of the glory of God, are we able to know that these sins, too, are forgiven? God forgives not just past sins, but future sins as well. Read Psalm 136 in the King James Version. In each of the twenty-six verses, we’re told emphatically “his mercy endureth forever.”

What a mighty God He is—the God of inexhaustible grace and mercy!

FEBRUARY 12 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”—Matthew 5:43-45 President Lincoln once said a few kind words about the Confederates. A woman retorted that she wondered how the president could speak kindly of his enemies, when he should rather wish them destroyed.

“But ma’am,” Lincoln replied. “Do I not destroy them when I make them my friends?”—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION Are there enemies in your life? Perhaps there are those of whom you would never use a word quite as bold as “enemy,” but still there is an unspoken impasse between you and them. Jesus, on the cross, spoke to God of His enemies, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Stephen, the first martyr, as he was being stoned, cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). As Christians, the ball is

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always in our court to follow Jesus in the treatment of our enemies. We must subject them to a barrage of personal prayer and unfeigned kindness.

Then watch for God to work.

FEBRUARY 13 Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

—James 2:17 Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again—until you can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.—William Booth WWJD? REFLECTION William Booth was converted to Christ in 1844 and soon developed an intense passion for the slum dwellers of London. That passion led Booth and his wife, Catherine, to found an agency that ministered to both the spiritual and physical needs of the poor. Their commitment to doing what Jesus would do resulted in that agency, the Salvation Army, having a worldwide effect on the souls of millions of people, continuing to this day.

What most people don’t realize is the terrible persecution Booth and his early followers suffered because of their commitment to doing what Jesus would do. The newspapers openly reviled Booth. In 1889 there were 669 known assaults on Salvation Army workers—some were killed, others maimed. There were instances of dead animals being thrown at the workers, pots of human urine poured on them, lime thrown in the eyes of a worker’s child. A group of thugs who, in parody, called themselves the “Skeleton Army” took great delight in disrupting meetings, frequently storming Salvation Army halls, breaking windows and trashing the building. At first the police offered little help. Instead they too harassed Booth and his followers. Such adversity is what can happen when the enemy wants to halt the work of those who would do what Jesus would do. As a tribute to the Booths, who were early askers of “What Would Jesus Do?” support your local Salvation Army and similar ministries targeting needs in your community.

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FEBRUARY 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”—Galatians 5:14 Whatever of outward service or obedience we render to God or man, if love is withheld, the law is not fulfilled.—F. B. Meyer WWJD? REFLECTION The essence of doing what Jesus would do must spring from a heart of love. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that if we give all our goods to the poor, yet don’t have love, we profit nothing (13:3). As you ask “What Would Jesus Do?” today, also remember your motive—love.

FEBRUARY 15 But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.—James 3:8 The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. If I have done some wrong thing (or even some right thing that I think you may misunderstand) and discover that you know about it, I will be very tempted to help you understand my action! Silence is one of the deepest disciplines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.

One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don’t need to straighten others out.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION Soon, perhaps today, you will face a test. Something unjust will be said about you. Rather than try to justify your actions by pouring out words of self-vindication, calmly give the matter to God. Let Him be your defense. That’s exactly what Jesus did when falsely accused.

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FEBRUARY 16 “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”—Luke 17:33 I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

—Clyde S. Kilby WWJD? REFLECTION At one time or another most Christians fall into the trap of introspection. Then we nitpick about all our faults and compare ourselves to someone we admire. Soon we wonder how it is that our self-esteem is so low. Don’t worry about yourself so much. God has His hand on you. He created you. Just do what needs to be done. Rest assured of yourself in Him.

FEBRUARY 17 “For nothing is impossible with God.”—Luke 1:37 We have a God who delights in impossibilities.—Andrew Murray WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus knew full well the power of God. He performed miracles that showed that God is not bound by human understanding. God wants to work miracles in our lives too. But to do so, we must know Him as the God of the impossible. Our faith must be in Him to do all. This is not positive thinking—this is often small faith in a very, very big God. This is the kind of faith Jesus repeatedly encouraged His disciples to have.

FEBRUARY 18 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.—Proverbs 23:7, KJV Very few persons realize the effect of thought upon the condition of the soul—that it is in fact its food, the substance from which it evolves its

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strength and health and beauty, or upon which it may become weak and unhealthy and deformed. The things we think about are the things we feed upon. If we think low and corrupt thoughts, we bring diseases upon our soul just as surely as we bring diseases upon our body by eating corrupt and improper food…. On the other hand, if we think of Christ, we feed on Christ. We eat His flesh and blood experientially by filling our souls with believing thoughts of Him…. If we take the words of God, His revealed truth, into our lips and eat it, that is, if we will dwell upon His words and say them over and over to ourselves and thoroughly take in and assimilate their meaning in a commonsense way, we shall find that our soul life is fed and nourished by them and is made strong and vigorous in consequence.—Hannah Whitall Smith WWJD? REFLECTION Today you will be offered many different kinds of food for your soul, either from your own thoughts, or from the thoughts of newspaper editors, novelists, movie, music, and television producers, and a host of other sources. Can you purpose to control the impurities that seek to undermine your spiritual life? Jesus resisted the temptations of Satan with Scripture. And when Peter voiced a thought that was contrary to righteousness, Jesus rebuked the source of the suggestion—Satan himself.

Today, stand your ground against assaults on your thought life.

FEBRUARY 19 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”—Matthew 5:13 Those who will save the city are not the politicians, the educators, the media, the police, the businessmen or the men on the street, but the Christians.—E. V. Hill WWJD? REFLECTION Today our cities are in great distress. But God has not forgotten them. Consider the ministry of Reverend E. V. Hill, pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, who has led his congregation in a massive outreach to the people of blighted area of South Central Los

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Angeles. Or consider David Wilkerson, who returned to start a church in the Times Square neighborhood of New York City, more than two decades after establishing his successful “Teen Challenge” Ministry. Reverend Wilkerson’s classic book The Cross and the Switchblade tells the dramatic story of how this one man was challenged to represent Christ to some of the most hardened youth in America.

When you read newspaper accounts of the troubles in our inner cities, don’t be cynical—be concerned. Jesus Christ wants to have a profound presence where sin abounds. Pray for our cities and the needs of our brothers and sisters who live and serve there. If you live near a large city, find out what ministries are active and ask how you can help.

FEBRUARY 20 “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial.

—1 Corinthians 10:23 If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that He knew how to live. We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities He engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities He Himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of His Father.—Dallas Willard WWJD? REFLECTION Are there activities in your life that are not “beneficial”? Innocent enough, perhaps, but not in the flow of where God is taking you? There was nothing wrong with Peter being a fisherman, but it wasn’t conducive to God’s plan—and so Peter left his nets to learn a new life, that of following Jesus. Is there an activity or preoccupation that Jesus is asking you to leave behind in your walk with Him? Abandon it, like a butterfly leaves the cocoon, for a better existence.

FEBRUARY 21 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.—Psalm 37:7

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True silence is the rest of the mind; and it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.—William Penn WWJD? REFLECTION So often we think of prayer as talking to God, and in part that’s true. But when we talk to loved ones, do we do all the talking or do we allow them their share of the conversation? Just so, we must learn the discipline of silence. We need the nourishment and refreshment that it brings. And in a daily time of silence we learn what Jesus would do.

FEBRUARY 22 But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish.—Psalm 49:12 Riches are the least worthy gifts which God can give man. They are nothing compared to God’s word, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health, or to the gifts of the mind, such as understanding, skill, wisdom! Yet men toil for them day and night, and take no rest. Therefore God commonly gives riches to foolish people, to whom He gives nothing else.—Martin Luther WWJD? REFLECTION Stop and think: what is it that you want from life? More money? A promotion? Prestige? To pursue excellence in what God calls us to do as a vocation is fine, but if the secret goal of the heart is a larger home, a fatter stock portfolio, then we must count ourselves as the “foolish people” of whom Luther writes. We must submit all our “riches” to Christ and use His wisdom in the stewardship of what we’ve been given.

FEBRUARY 23 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.—1 Timothy 2:1 It is as we daily hear God’s call, and put [intercessory prayer] into practice, that the consciousness will begin to live in us, that we too, are intercessors;

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and that we shall feel the need of living in Christ and being full of the Spirit if we are to do the work of intercession aright. Nothing will so test and stimulate the Christian life as the honest attempt to be an intercessor.

—Andrew Murray WWJD? REFLECTION Intercession is the art of praying for others. It’s a very serious undertaking. God will often give His children “burdens” to intercede for other people, for nations, for ministries, or for certain specific situations. When Jesus prayed for His believers in John 17, He was interceding. As we pray for others we are doing what Jesus did. After a while, God may lift one burden from you and give you another. Learn to be sensitive to just how God wants to use you as an intercessor.

FEBRUARY 24 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,”“Do not murder,”“Do not steal,”“Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”—Romans 13:8-9 The Christians do not commit adultery. They do not lie. They do not covet their neighbor’s goods. They honor father and mother. They love their neighbors. They judge justly. They avoid doing to others what they do not wish to be done to themselves. They do good to their enemies. They are kind.—Aristides WWJD? REFLECTION Though we, as Christians, are not under the Old Testament law, we’re still to be noted for our right living. Such sins as adultery, lying, and covetousness are not to be found in the life of a Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” And as Scripture says, the key to keeping free from such sins is to love our neighbor as ourself.

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FEBRUARY 25 “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna.”—Revelation 2:17 It does not pay to get sour as you get old. I pity a man who lives in the past. He lives on stale manna. He gets stunted.—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION Dining on stale manna is not just a temptation of the elderly. Any Christian who doesn’t keep his or her relationship with Christ up to date is staying alive by the stale manna God provided in the past. That tasty manna of yesterday may have been sweet then, but don’t depend on it to nourish you today. Jesus would never have lived only on memories of what God did in the past. He never relied on yesterday’s experience to nourish today. His experience was fresh manna.

Treasure your memories, but receive from God the sweet manna for February 25, not February 24.

FEBRUARY 26 “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”—Matthew 6:10 Fellow Christians, the will of God concerning us is not only the wisest and best thing in the world; it is also the tenderest and the sweetest. God’s will for us is not only more loving than a father’s; it is more tender than a mother’s. It is true that God does oftentimes revolutionize utterly our life plans when we surrender ourselves to His will. It is true that He does sometimes require of us things that to others seem hard. But when the will is once surrendered, the revolutionized life plans become just the plans that are most pleasant, and the things that to others seem hard, are just the things that are easiest and most delightful. Do not let Satan deceive you into being afraid of God’s plans for your life.—R. A. Torrey

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WWJD? REFLECTION Never fear that surrender to the will of God will send you somewhere you don’t want to go. With the commission from God for service, comes an intense desire to do exactly that. Doing God’s will is synonymous with fulfillment. Jesus chose to do the will of the Father. So must we.

FEBRUARY 27 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.—1 Peter 2:21 Imagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord’s footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your prints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns.

For much of the way it seems to go like this. But gradually, your footprints come more in line with the Lord’s, soon paralleling His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true friends. This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: your footprints that once etched the sand next to the Master’s are now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints is the small “sand-print,” safely enclosed. You and Jesus are becoming one. This goes on for many miles. But gradually you notice another change. The footprint inside the larger footprint seems to grow larger. Eventually it disappears altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one. Again, this goes on for a long time. But then something awful happens. The second set of footprints is back. And this time it seems even worse. Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Deep gashes in the sand. A veritable mess of prints. You’re amazed and shocked. But this is the end of your dream. Now you speak. “Lord, I understand the first scene with the zigzags and fits and starts and so on. I was a new Christian, just learning. But You walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk in You.” “That is correct.”

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“Yes, and when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps. I followed You very closely.” “Very good. You have understood everything so far.” “Then the smaller footprints grew and eventually filled in with Yours. I suppose that I was actually growing so much that I was becoming like You in every way.” “Precisely.” “But this is my question: Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints went back to two, and this time it was worse than the first.” The Lord smiles, then laughs. “You didn’t know?” He says. “That was when we danced.”—Mark Littleton WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians have been blessed by the original “Footprints” poem, but this version has something just as profound to say. God rejoices over us—all the time. Yes, there is a sense in which Jesus would dance for joy with us—just as sure as He will weep with us in our hour of grief.

Today, celebrate the joy of the Savior who dances with His beloved.

FEBRUARY 28 “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”—Matthew 5:16 A Christian merchant should act so that his customers shall see and know that he is a Christian; not merely that he conducts his business on great maxims of honesty, but that business itself is subordinate and instrumental to the great purposes of life. Is it so with you? How far does the difference between you and the worldly man lie in the fact that on the seventh day you have a little tabernacle of religious experience into which you run? Go through the streets of any major city and you can pick out the men and women who are wealthy—but can you pick out those who are Christians? What a wonder that truth makes such slow advances in the world, with one Christian to tell what is true for an hour on Sunday, and hundreds to deny all week long by their lives!—Henry Ward Beecher

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WWJD? REFLECTION The great mission of the church is to be the church when we’re outside of the four walls of the building in which we meet on Sunday morning. The joy with which we sing praise choruses must be equalled by the joy with which we slide into our desks on Monday morning. The dedication we offer on our knees at the altar must be borne out in our commitment to doing a good job for our employers and being a responsible family member in our homes.

Let each day be as Sunday.

FEBRUARY 29 Sow your seed in the morning.—Ecclesiastes 11:6 Do not have your concert first and tune your instruments afterwards. Begin the day with God.—Hudson Taylor WWJD? REFLECTION If we want to succeed, we need to be prepared ahead of time for the situations that prompt the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” The best preparation is to enter the day by “tuning our instruments”—that is tuning our minds to the mind of the Lord.

Let’s set aside our concerns for what the day will bring until we’re in harmony with the pitch pipe of God’s Word.

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MARCH MARCH 1 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.—Matthew 14:23 God has made me a lonely person…. I was always a solitary soul, thinking more for, than with people; but it is good to be more alone—most good, if it be more alone with Christ. What a place that is!—John Nelson Darby WWJD? REFLECTION Some people never seem to experience loneliness—but most of us do, from time to time. Some are lonely frequently. But how many of us will consider our loneliness as a call from God to separate ourselves to Him for a season? He created humanity for fellowship with Himself. Jesus Christ certainly knew loneliness. Is it possible then that He understands our loneliness?

MARCH 2 “Them that honor me I will honor.”—1 Samuel 2:30, KJV Ask yourself: If I know something to be true, am I prepared to follow it, even though it is contrary to what I want [or] to what I have previously held to be true? Will I follow it if it means being laughed at, if it means personal financial loss, or some kind of hardship?—Eric Liddell WWJD? REFLECTION You may not remember the name Eric Liddell right away, but many Christians know his story—he was the subject of the popular movie Chariots of Fire. In 1924 at the Paris Olympics Liddell disqualified himself from the 100-meter race rather than betray his conscience and run a preliminary heat on his day of worship. Later, before he ran the 400-meter race, a note was passed to him with the words of 1 Samuel 2:30.

God did indeed honor Liddell’s obedience—as the Scotsman won the gold medal and set a new world record in that race. In another brave choice Liddell later turned his back on a promising athletic career to become a missionary to China, where he ended up in a Japanese internment camp. He lived a quiet, rather unremarkable life in the eyes of the world and died at age thirty-eight from a brain tumor.

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That we should speak of him more than half a century later, and that his story of faith and faithfulness would be compelling enough to retell in a film that not only attracted the attention of the movie-going public but earned the honor of an Oscar award for Best Picture shows the lengths to which God will indeed honor those who honor Him.

MARCH 3 “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!”—Isaiah 55:1 We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a person is admitted into the vault of a bank, and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Christian people generally have such scanty portions of the free riches of God?—Alexander Maclaren WWJD? REFLECTION God is willing, even eager, to give us more of Himself. The question He asks is, are we willing to receive more of Himself? Those who want to follow Jesus and to do what He would do will find a welcome reception.

We are as rich in God as we want to be.

MARCH 4 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.—Romans 8:1 It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven.

—Matthew Henry

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WWJD? REFLECTION Our feet must follow what our mouths declare. It is our actions that confirm our otherwise empty words. Would there be Christianity today if Jesus had only taught and not confirmed His status as the Son of God by His deeds? So must our Christianity be confirmed by where we find our feet walking and what we find our hands doing.

MARCH 5 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”—Jeremiah 9:23-24 In the judgment of the true Christian, credit and reputation stand on ground not very different from riches. He should not prize them too highly or desire and pursue them with too much concern. However, when the hand of Providence gives them to him, he is to accept them with thankfulness and use them with moderation. He should be able to relinquish them, if it becomes necessary, without murmur.—William Wilberforce WWJD? REFLECTION William Wilberforce spoke the above words from experience. Converted to Christianity at age twenty-five, Wilberforce was a rich young Englishman who spent his life as an antislavery crusader and generous philanthropist. He helped many mission organizations financially and fought to improve the plight of the poor and those in prison. Among his upper-class acquaintances with a vested interest in slavery, his reputation was often maligned. But knowing how to live as Christ wanted him to live enabled Wilberforce to accomplish God’s will in great measure. His money was never an obstacle, because, like his reputation, he was ready to relinquish all, if necessary.

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Is there anything you’re unwilling to relinquish without murmur? Hold a very loose grip on what God has given. It’s the only way to happiness. Ask Job. I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.—Martin Luther

MARCH 6 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

—John 10:10 Don’t be satisfied with a mere feeble measure of spiritual life. Strive to have the abundant life and to be well-rounded Christians. Seek to have every power of your life developed to its utmost possibility and usefulness. Find out whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, and strive to have every mark and line of beauty in your own life. Grow toward God in all upward heavenward reaching. Grow toward men on earth in all unselfishness and loving service. Grow in your own soul into the fullness of the stature of Christ. And all of this will gain by becoming filled more and more with Christ Himself. It was the daily prayer of one saintly Christian, “O God, make me an uncommon Christian.” Let it be our prayer as well.—J. R. Miller WWJD? REFLECTION To ask “What Would Jesus Do?” is to be an uncommon Christian—if we act on the answer to that question. The result of such conformity to Christ is to enjoy “life to the full,” which was Jesus’ stated mission on behalf of us. Today, find ways to be an uncommon Christian.

MARCH 7 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.—Psalm 34:14 A man who does evil to someone will not be able to worship God.—Sextus

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WWJD? REFLECTION It’s not likely that a Christian who’s asking “What Would Jesus Do?” will commit murder or in any obvious way do harm to another person. However, Satan is the master manipulator. He often tempts us to evil through subtle compromise. The Psalmist was clear about our response to evil: turn away. Today evil may present itself to you in shades of gray. Recognize it and turn away—just as Jesus would do.

MARCH 8 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

—Hebrews 12:2 Now just as the gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them, and behold the city shone like the sun; the streets were also paved with gold; and in them walked many men with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden harps, to sing praises. There were also of them that had wings, and they answered one another without intermission, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord!” And after they shut up the gates; which when I had seen, I wished myself among them.

—John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress WWJD? REFLECTION We can identify with the yearning of Bunyan’s pilgrim to be forever shut up within the gates of heaven, forever lost in praise to our God. Can any daily annoyance take our eyes off such a glorious destiny? Not if we do what Jesus did, set aside distractions and fix, with a single eye, on our ultimate hope.

MARCH 9 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.—Colossians 3:23

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We were made for action, and for right action—for thought, and for true thought. Let us live while we live, let us be alive and doing; let us act on what we have, since we have not what we wish. Let us believe what we do not see and know. Let us forestall knowledge by faith.

—John Henry Newman WWJD? REFLECTION We are granted only a few years on this planet. Each day is like a gift of money to be spent or invested—it can’t be saved. Yesterday is gone and can’t be reclaimed—but there is today and, God willing, tomorrow.

How will you “spend” the money of hours you have been given today? Jesus’ way was to remain aware of His Father’s presence, no matter what He was doing. If we are working, let us work unto the Lord. If we are resting, let us rest unto the Lord. If we are ministering, may our ministry be unto the Lord.

MARCH 10 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.—Psalm 18:19, KJV And what is this “large place” that David speaks of? What can it be but God Himself—that infinite Being in whom all other beings and all other streams of life terminate? God is a large place indeed. And it was through humiliation, through abasement, through nothingness, that David was brought into it.—Jeanne Guyon WWJD? REFLECTION Sin confines, grace enlarges. Do you sense the “large place” to which God has called you? It is Himself—for there is no larger place to be found. The entrance to this large place is in the footsteps of Christ.

It is the way of abasement and lowliness.

MARCH 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him.

—Luke 23:11

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If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he has to say, and make fun of it.—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION To stand for God is to leave oneself open to ridicule and rejection. But each time we endure rejection for Christ, we sense more deeply His own rejection by those whom He came to serve. As Christ hung on the cross, His words for those who mocked and killed Him were, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34, KJV). This must also be our attitude in the face of rejection for our faith.

MARCH 12 “There is…a time to weep and a time to laugh…”

—Ecclesiastes 3:4 You can’t live on amusement. It is the froth on water, an inch deep, and then the mud!—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION Laughter is good. The Psalmist said that, “When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion…our mouths were filled with laughter,” (Psalm 126:2). Laughter and good cheer are recommended in other places in the Bible as well. But the thought is always that of Ecclesiastes 3:4—that there is a time to laugh—as well as a time to weep and experience the many other emotions God’s given us. This suggests there’s also an inappropriate time to laugh.

Think about it. What would Jesus laugh at? What would He not laugh at? How would He react to humor that denigrates another person or ethnic group? How would His sense of humor react to some of the “comedy” we watch on television? For many, life is one search after another for fresh ways to be amused. Such seeking for amusement ends in a life that’s froth and no more than an inch deep. Let’s allow the God who has enough of a sense of humor to invent a creature such as the giraffe to be the arbiter of our amusement. Then we’ll find genuine joy and laughter, along with a life of depth.

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MARCH 13 And they all forsook him, and fled.—Mark 14:50, KJV Separation never comes from His side.—Hudson Taylor WWJD? REFLECTION Does God ever arbitrarily leave a believer? Throughout the Bible, it’s always humankind that does the forsaking—either individuals in rebellion, or the nation of Israel backsliding. For His part, God said He would “never leave or forsake us.” (Deuteronomy 31:6). Clearly Christians who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” must see themselves as united to the Lord forever. In this security there is great strength.

MARCH 14 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?—James 2:15-16 All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.—John Calvin WWJD? REFLECTION We own nothing in this world. Everything we have is, as Calvin says, a “divine deposit” over which we have temporal steward-ship. Will we bury that which has been entrusted to us, or will we be like the good steward who, by investing what had been entrusted to him, was rewarded by his returning master? Jesus was the ultimate good steward of God’s gifts. The investment of His life resulted in “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10).

By doing what Jesus would do, we are investing our divine deposits for future dividends and demonstrating to the world that the way to find life is to lose it.

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MARCH 15 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.—Psalm 23:1 The gradual disappearance of the idea and feeling of majesty from the church is a sign and a portent. Our God has now become our servant to wait on our will. “The Lord is my shepherd,” we say, instead of, “The Lord is my shepherd,” and the difference is as wide as the world.—A. W. Tozer WWJD? REFLECTION It’s no accident that sheep are often used in the Bible as illustrative of God’s people, for we share many characteristics in common. It’s also no wonder that Jesus was portrayed as the Good Shepherd. Look to Him to lead you; never try to lead Him to where you want to go. For a deeper understanding of the nature of our relationship as sheep to our Good Shepherd, read the classic A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-Third Psalm, by Phillip Keller.

MARCH 16 Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

—1 Corinthians 10:31 The story is told of an old sculptor who worked meticulously on a figure that was to stand in a niche in the wall so that its back would never be seen. An observer noted that the artist was laboring as exactingly on the back of the piece as on the front.

“Why take such care on the back? No one will ever see it,” the onlooker asked. “Ah,” replied the sculptor, “but God will always be looking upon it.” —Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION God sees all. Do we cut corners in daily life, doing less than our best in the interests of time? Jesus came to be a complete Redeemer. His work on our behalf was thorough. So, too, must our willingness to do what Jesus would do be complete. Remember that God views the invisible side of our labors, as well as the visible.

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MARCH 17 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” —Psalm 91:2 God’s might to direct me, God’s power to protect me, God’s wisdom for learning, God’s eye for discerning, God’s ear for my hearing, God’s word for my clearing.—St. Patrick WWJD? REFLECTION As a youth, Patrick was captured by pirates and sold as a slave. After six years of servitude he escaped and returned to his home, where he began the ministry that would ultimately lead to the Christianization of Ireland, which in turn became a center of Christian influence throughout Europe.

Many of God’s greatest soldiers have undergone excruciating trials before God has used them. Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered”(Hebrews 5:8). Shall we not then endure whatever degree of trials God sends to mold us?

MARCH 18 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

—Mark 1:35 Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.—Oswald Chambers WWJD? REFLECTION Most successful Christians relate stories of meeting God in the morning, before the day’s assaults begin. Jesus knew the value of an

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early morning meeting with God. Christians should turn their attention decidedly to God before they embark on their day. Prayer, a short Scripture reading, and a quiet gathering of one’s thoughts are a very minimum for any who would ask “What Would Jesus Do?”

MARCH 19 This world deserveth nothing but the outer court of our soul.

—Samuel Rutherford The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves at home here on earth.—Malcolm Muggeridge WWJD? REFLECTION For most of my life I’ve lived within reasonable distance of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I can remember the first time our family drove across the bridge, when I was eight and we had just moved to California from Mississippi. I have loved that bridge and San Francisco ever since. Yet each time I see the architectural majesty of the city and the earthly beauty of the natural environs of the area, I’m reminded that, as much as I enjoy these wonders, they shall someday be gone.

Long before that day, I shall exit this earth and go to my true home. Just as Jesus was only here in bodily form for awhile, so too is our earthly journey only a brief passing through. We may enjoy the beauty of earth—in fact it’s a compliment to God to enjoy His wonders—but His works should engage only the outer court of our soul. Like Jesus, we’re part of a kingdom that’s not of this world.

MARCH 20 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

—Matthew 7:3 So long as we are full of self we are shocked at the faults of others. Let us think often of our own sin, and we shall be lenient to the sins of others.

—François Fénelon

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WWJD? REFLECTION Perhaps one of the worst problems about judging the faults of others is that we do so without having walked around in their skin. If we could see the hurts and adversity that cause many to fall, we would surely be more compassionate. And perhaps we’d wonder, rightly, if we were in their shoes, if we might not have greater faults.

Remember Jesus’ words to the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11).

MARCH 21 A crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language…. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”—Acts 2:6, 12 I am preaching for the age in which I live. I’m just recasting my vocabulary to suit the people of my age.—Billy Sunday WWJD? REFLECTION Possibly the biggest challenge we face as we ask “What Would Jesus Do?” is that we live in a culture that’s so different from the one that existed in the land of Israel two thousand years ago. And so, while our message hasn’t changed since Christ walked the earth, our application and our delivery of His message will be “recast” so that people can hear and understand.

Understanding the message was so critical to the early church that on the day of Pentecost God enabled each foreigner to hear the message in his own language—supernaturally. In our own day, we may find all sorts of creative ways of recasting the good news—including wearing apparel that asks “WWJD?” Already many Christians have found this technique successful as curious friends ask, “What does ‘WWJD?’ stand for?” The result can be a very effective time of personal evangelism. One thing, however, that doesn’t change with time is the answer to “What Would Jesus Do?” What Jesus would have done in the past, He would do now—demonstrate love.

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MARCH 22 “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one.”—Matthew 25:15, KJV The man had two talents. This quiet, commonplace, unnoticed man, going his faithful way in his subdued dress which not marks and draws no eye, doing his duty insignificantly and thoroughly, winning so unobtrusively at last his master’s praise, ought to be interesting to us all, because he represents so much the largest segment of universal human life. The average man is by far the most numerous man. The man who goes beyond the average, the man who falls short of the average—both, by their very definitions, are exceptions. They are the outskirts and fringes, the peaks and promontories, of humanity. The great continent of human life is made up of the average people, the mass of two-talented capacity and action. But he was faithful, for notice that “he that had received two, he also gained other two” (v.17).—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION

While contentment is God’s goal for us, it’s a contentment that springs from the extraordinary source of our Christian life. Too many believers settle into a daily routine that loses little and gains little. Content to escape hell and enjoy heaven, they simply bury their talent. But God is not the God of “average Christianity,” He’s the God of the abundant life, the invested talent, the profitable reward. Don’t “settle,” when you know full well God is beckoning you to a higher plane.

MARCH 23 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one pearl of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”—Matthew 13:45-46

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Every Christian who desires the pearl of great price must sacrifice all to buy it. It is not enough to see the beauty and the glory and almost to taste the joy of this wonderful life; you must become the possessor of it. The man had found and seen, desired and rejoiced in the pearl of great price; but he did not have it until he gave up everything to buy it.

You cannot live every day in perfect fellowship with God without giving time to it. Hours, days, weeks, months, and years are gladly given by men and women to perfect themselves in some profession or accomplishment. Do you expect that the Christian walk is so easy and cheap that without giving time you can find close fellowship with God? But this pearl is worth everything. If you find there is struggle in your heart, never mind. By God’s grace, if you will lie at His feet, you may depend upon it—deliverance will come!—Andrew Murray WWJD? REFLECTION When Jesus told the parable of the pearl of great price, He was trying to get across the point that this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It costs us all we have to do what Jesus would do, but it is of “great value.”

Never forget that the life you’re living is not cheap—it is priceless.

MARCH 24 An oracle is within my heart concenring the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.—Psalm 36:1-2 The greatest security against sin is to be shocked at its presence.

—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION We are, as a society, less and less shockable. We are the proverbial frog in a pan of heating water, unaware of our danger. What would Jesus do about the lack of concern over sin? Wouldn’t He want to restore sight to those who are blinded by the deceitfulness of sin? A healthy fear of God

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is a good way to restore our sense of right and wrong, sin and righteousness.

Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God. —Psalm 55:19, NKJV

MARCH 25 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

—Galatians 5:1 It is a fact beyond question that there are two kinds of Christian experience, one of which is an experience of bondage, and the other an experience of liberty.—Hannah Whitall Smith WWJD? REFLECTION To ask “What Would Jesus Do?” must not become “an experience of bondage,” but rather “an experience of liberty.” We are never more loved by God because of what we do; rather, what we do is because we are loved by God. In our daily asking “What Would Jesus Do?” we can never allow the enemy to turn this vital question into a form of bondage.

MARCH 26 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.—Proverbs 25:2 Many people seem to feel that science has somehow made “religious ideas” untimely or old-fashioned. But I think science has a real surprise for skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation.

Now, if God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn’t it make sense to assume that He applies it also to the human soul? I think it does. And everything

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science has taught me—and continues to teach me—strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace.—Wernher von Braun The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world.

—A. W. Tozer The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.—Louis Pasteur WWJD? REFLECTION If scientists would see their work as a searching out the mysteries of God’s universe, the result, I believe, would be even greater advances. Most of the early scientists whose discoveries are the foundation of research today were strong believers in God. However, scientific research that emanates from an unbelieving heart is prone to misuse, even evil use. Every endeavor, including science, must have those in the forefront who ask of their research, “What Would Jesus Do?”

MARCH 27 The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.—Psalm 90:10 I had rather wear out than rust out.—George Whitefield WWJD? REFLECTION Someday we may retire from our jobs—but we never retire from being active, productive Christians. Many godly men and women have labored long past average life spans, eventually wearing out rather than waiting to rust out. Examples include Corrie Ten Boom, who traveled extensively well into her eighties, preaching the gospel; and George Mueller, founder of several orphanages, who at age seventy set out on a worldwide mission tour that lasted seventeen years. Thank God for all the remaining days of your life in which you have the privilege of doing what Jesus would do!

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MARCH 28 “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.”—Romans 12:20 The natural thing is to say that my enemy is hungry because he is not following the Lord as I am, or else to say that his hunger is a judgment from the Lord. In other words, the natural thing is to think that it is my enemy who is the one being tested. But the Lord says my enemy is hungry in order that I may be tested to see if I will obey His divine injunction.

—Leonard Ravenhill WWJD? REFLECTION We sometimes excuse ourselves from compassion for the poor by ascribing their condition to laziness, mental illness, drugs, or any number of other excuses. But God doesn’t ask us to question their motives; He asks us to help them.

May God give us a depth of love that perhaps we don’t have now for those in need—whether physical, spiritual, or emotional. When He does, we can expect that it will result in a desire to be involved in helping in some way, large or small.

MARCH 29 For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.—2 Corinthians 8:21 If Christians want us to believe in a Redeemer, let them act redeemed.

—Voltaire WWJD? REFLECTION French philosopher, François-Marie Arouet Voltaire was an opponent of Christianity. He saw many instances of professed believers in Christ not doing what Jesus would do. Perhaps this contributed in large measure to his anti-Christian philosophy. There may be such skeptics whose eyes are on each of us—men and women looking for Christians whose redeemed actions match their redeemed speech.

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Doing what Jesus would do has great power to affect not only directly on the lives of those we set out to befriend, but observers as well. This is the rippleeffect of Christianity in action. Today, let’s do what Jesus would do with the prayer that we may also send out ripples of testimony to watching eyes.

MARCH 30 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.—1 Corinthians 3:4-5 The Lord called me by the way of simplicity and humility, and this way he hath shown me in truth for me and those who will believe and imitate me. And therefore I would that ye name not to me any rule, neither of St. Augustine, nor St. Benedict, nor of Bernard, nor any way or form of living, but that which was mercifully shown and given me by the Lord.

—Francis of Assisi WWJD? REFLECTION God has often inspired great ministries to meet specific needs. World Vision, Campus Crusade for Christ, Promise Keepers, the Salvation Army; even the “WWJD?” question—all are excellent vehicles for the deepening of our Christian walk. But we must not cling to any named movement as though it could replace the work of the Body of Christ at large. Remember Jesus’ prayer of unity. Don’t let “WWJD?” or any other trend that God inspires become the end; only let it be a means.

MARCH 31 …clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ…

—Romans 13:14a

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We are doing God next year. Please send all details and pamphlets.—Letter from a British schoolgirl to the Anglican Church Information Office WWJD? REFLECTION In asking “What Would Jesus Do?” we must be on guard not to turn Christianity into a philosophy dependent on the answer to that one question. After all, the essence of Christianity depends not so much on how well we do what Jesus would do, but on what Jesus already did on the Cross.

The young schoolgirl who wants to know the details about God from pamphlets because “we are doing God next year” is in for a surprise. So are we if we imagine that we are “doing God” because we wear a bracelet or a TShirt and pledge to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” for a full year. It’s good to wear the clothing—but we must also wear Christ Himself.

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APRIL APRIL 1 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in days gone by, as in generations of old.—Isaiah 51:9 I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God.—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians, it seems, know about Christ, many are versed in the doctrines of the faith. But if a man or woman would be successful at doing what Jesus would do, their actions must spring from a vibrant relationship with Christ Himself. We mustn’t slumber in our Christianity; we must awake and clothe ourselves with the strength of God, as in days gone by.

APRIL 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”—Acts 13:2 It is sobering to realize that the very first statement Jesus made about fasting dealt with the question of motive (Matthew 6:16-18). To use good things to our own ends is always the sign of false religion. How easy it is to take something like fasting and try to use it to get God to do what we want. At times there is such stress upon the blessings and benefits of fasting that we would be tempted to believe that with a little fast we could have the world, including God, eating out of our hands.

Fasting must forever center on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained. Like the prophetess Anna, we need to be “worshiping with fasting” (Luke 2:37). Every other purpose must be subservient to God. Like that apostolic band at Antioch, “fasting” and “worshiping the Lord” must be said in the same breath (Acts 13:2). Charles Spurgeon

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writes, “Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the Tabernacle have been high days indeed; never has Heaven’s gate stood wider; never have our hearts been nearer the central Glory.”—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION Have you learned the spiritual benefits of fasting? Fasting can be a great discipline that furthers our ability to do what Jesus would do. It can deepen our spiritual insight, even our creative abilities. It’s said that George Frideric Handel fasted for more than twenty days before writing the “Hallelujah Chorus” for his Messiah oratorio.

Check with your doctor, read up on the “how-to’s” of fasting (God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis is excellent), and seek God for times of fasting in your life.

APRIL 3 “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”—Zephaniah 3:17 A missionary told how she was once describing the loving character of God to a gathering of Chinese women. As she told of the Father’s love, compassion, and mercy with great enthusiasm, one of the Chinese women turned to her neighbor and said, “Haven’t I often told you that there ought to be a God like that?”—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION Why do so many non-Christians have a such a negative view of both Christians and the Christian God? Perhaps some want an excuse to continue in their unbelief, but for many others, the God we serve is exactly the God they would love if they knew Him. As we tell others of God’s love, as Christ did, we should expect that others too will react with “I just knew there ought to be a God like that!”

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APRIL 4 Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

—2 Corinthians 13:11 We might have much peace if we would not meddle with other people’s sayings and doings. Blessed be the true, simple, and humble people, for they shall have a great plenitude of peace.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION One of the many appellations given Christ is the “man of Peace,” and so He was. As He walked on earth, He carried with Him the same peace of God available to us. Today, consider the situation you face that requires the peace of God.

Walk in the supernatural peace of Christ.

APRIL 5 Where there is no vision, the people perish.

—Proverbs 29:18 KJV Have unlimited vision under God. Have enthusiasm and faith in what God can do. Without this vision you will become discouraged with the situation at hand; with it you will know that with God all things are possible. Beginning with things as they are and having the vision of what God can do, you will make an unbeatable team.—Henrietta Mears WWJD? REFLECTION It is strange that Henrietta Mears should speak of vision. Her own eyesight was quite poor and continued to worsen throughout her life. Disappointed that God didn’t call her to the foreign mission field, Henrietta enrolled in college, though doctors predicted she would be blind before graduation. During her college years, Miss Mears became engaged to a young man she loved very much, though he was not a Christian. Her goals began to focus on having a family, a home, and companionship. However, God began to deal with her about her pending wedding, and in surrender to God she broke

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her engagement and remained single for the rest of her life. The ministry God had for Henrietta Mears was based in a Sunday school classroom in Hollywood, where she taught many young men and women who later followed the Lord into full-time service. Her effect continues thirty five years after her death at age seventy-three, through Gospel Light, the publishing company she founded in 1933. Her commitment to doing what Jesus would have her do led her to her motto, “To know Christ and to make Him known.” Another favorite expression of hers was, “Dare to look ahead.”

APRIL 6 As they make music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.”—Psalm 87:7 Every character has an inward spring; let Christ be that spring. Every action has a keynote; let Christ be that note, to which your whole life is attuned.—Henry Drummond WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians fail for want of focus. They seem to have no firm center from which all spiritual action can issue. Today, settle yourself in God. Let Christ be your focus, your anchor, your center. See Him in every situation and move in faith, doing what He would do.

APRIL 7 “I am the…life.”—John 11:25 It is in our power to stretch out our arms and by doing good in our actions, to seize life and set it in our soul. This is the life of which Christ said, “I am the Life.”—Origen WWJD? REFLECTION To those to whom we stretch out our arms we become Christ. In so doing, it’s not just they who receive life, but we too are enlivened by doing the deeds of Christ. See each act of kindness as a fresh partaking of the Lord Himself.

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APRIL 8 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”—Matthew 6:20 The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

—William James WWJD? REFLECTION When your life ends, will your influence also cease? Or are you doing what Jesus would do in such a way that your works will outlast your life? Will your children, your neighbors, your friends, those who work with you, will they rise up and call you blessed? Will they talk of you and your Christlike spirit for years to come? Yes, if we are living the Christ-life—for the works of Christ that we do have an eternal influence.

APRIL 9 Words from a wise man’s mouth are gracious.—Ecclesiastes 10:12 On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee put on his finest dress uniform, mounted Traveller, and rode away from his tired and tattered troops to Appomattox, where he would surrender his beaten army to General Ulysses S. Grant. As Lee rode to meet his conqueror, he fully expected that his men would be herded like cattle into railroad cars and taken to a Union prison and that he, as their general, would be tried and executed as a disgraced traitor.

In the tidy living room of the home where the vanquished and the victor met, Lee asked Grant what his terms of surrender were to be. Grant told Lee that his men were free to take their horses with them and go back to their little farms and that Lee too was free to go home and create a new life. Lee offered Grant his sword; Grant refused it. Lee heaved a sigh; he came expecting to be humiliated, and left with dignity and honor. As he watched General Lee mount Traveller and ride back to his troops, Grant took off his hat and saluted his defeated enemy. It was a gracious grace.

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And it deeply affected the defeated general: as long as he lived, Lee allowed no critical word of Grant to be spoken in his presence.—Lewis B. Smedes WWJD? REFLECTION Grace is one of the most attractive qualities in the Christian. Who in your life needs some grace? Perhaps there’s someone who feels as defeated as General Lee, with no one to come alongside and give the grace that will lift that person. Watch with the eyes of Christ for just such a person.

APRIL 10 We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.—1 Thessalonians 2:4 God is always testing us, and his testing does not come when we are warned and ready. Anyone can pass a test then.

God’s tests catch us unprepared, off guard. It is when we are confronted with some simple situation no one will know about that the tests of life really come. When you are relaxing at home and the phone rings and suddenly you are confronted with a call for help, or a demand for a response—and you had planned to relax and enjoy yourself all afternoon—what happens then? That’s the test.—Ray Stedman WWJD? REFLECTION God often uses the unexpected to test our hearts. Today there may be such an unforeseen situation. Can you meet it as Christ would? Yes, if you will arm yourself with faith.

APRIL 11 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

—1 Corinthians 11:1, KJV In his life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king; in his intercession, a high priest.—Martin Luther

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WWJD? REFLECTION To do what Jesus would do requires familiarity with Christ as revealed in the Bible. Have you read through the Gospels lately to observe what He did, to listen to what He said?

If we would follow Him, we must learn of Him. As you read, see yourself as a fellow disciple, along with Peter, James, John, and the rest. Learn from their mistakes and successes.

APRIL 12 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?—Matthew 16:26 He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

—Jim Elliot WWJD? REFLECTION Jim Elliot, along with four missionary companions, was murdered in 1956 at age twenty-nine by ten Auca Indians from the tribe the missionaries had gone to evangelize. The effects of Elliot’s death have been profound. Not only have many Christians felt drawn to the mission field through his story, but also many Aucas became Christians after the massacre. We can never tell what positive repercussions may result from even the most seemingly horrific tragedy. Look beyond any immediate pain with understanding that God knows the end of your story. Trust Him.

APRIL 13 But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages…to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.—Hebrews 9:26 People talk about the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own best reward in healthful activity, the

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consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view and such a thought! It was emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege…I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which he made who left his Father’s throne on high to give himself for us.—David Livingstone WWJD? REFLECTION Let’s rethink the concept of sacrifice when it comes to doing what Jesus would do. Our attitude must be turned upside down to see that “sacrificing” for Christ is an oxymoron. In the words of David Livingstone, let’s “say rather it is a privilege.” If we could only grasp the significance of the Incarnation, the word “sacrifice” would disappear from our vocabulary.—Nate Saint

APRIL 14 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.—Matthew 4:11 It is in the path where God has bade us walk that we shall find the angels around us. We may meet them, indeed, on paths of our own choosing, but it will be the sort of angels that Balaam met, with a sword in his hand, mighty and beautiful, but wrathful too; and we had better not front him! But friendly helpers, the emissaries of God’s love, the apostles of His grace, do not haunt the roads that we make for ourselves.

—Alexander Maclaren WWJD? REFLECTION When Jesus was tempted by the devil, we can assume that there existed the possibility of His assenting to the devil’s demand, or else it could hardly be called temptation. And yet Jesus resisted Satan with the Word of God, and “angels came and attended him” (Mark 1:13). When we would have angels in our midst, we must be on the road where they dwell—the road where Jesus has been.

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APRIL 15 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.”

—Matthew 6:28, KJV I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what [C. S.] Lewis calls their “divine, magical, and ecstatic” existence.—Clyde S. Kilby WWJD? REFLECTION When God had finished creation, He pronounced it “very good.” All that we see of nature around us—trees, oceans, animals—all are the good creation of God. Jesus said that the Father takes note of a falling sparrow and that He clothes the lilies of the field. He also said that our Father cares much more for us than His works of nature.

Today look at nature around you and see the creativity of the God who loves you. And rejoice.

APRIL 16 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”—John 4:34 Seek your life’s nourishment in your life’s work.—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION Food nourishes, strengthens. When we’re doing what Jesus would do, we’re made stronger. Our work will nourish us, if it’s the work God’s given us. Sometimes we look at what we’re given to do—our jobs, our home life, our civic duties—and we fail to see nourishment. Instead, if we’re not careful, we see the ordinariness of the task. We need to look deeper.

If we do, we’ll see that a banquet awaits us.

APRIL 17 “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.”

—John 9:4

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As long as I see anything to be done for God, life is worth having; but O how vain and unworthy it is to live for any lower end!—David Brainerd WWJD? REFLECTION David Brainerd was an eager young Christian serving the Indians near Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in the mid-eighteenth century. He loved hard, labored hard, and died young for the Lord, at age twenty-nine. We never know how many years we have left.

While it is day we must do what Jesus would do.

APRIL 18 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.

—Galatians 6:4 If I could give you information of my life, it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all: and I have never refused God anything.—Florence Nightingale WWJD? REFLECTION God seems to work best with available people “of very ordinary ability.” And why is that? Maybe it’s that when the vessel is weak, all the credit for accomplishment goes to God alone. The second part of the equation that Miss Nightingale relates is being “led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths.” Those are the paths over which hangs the sign “WWJD?.” Third, though she “worked hard, very hard,” Miss Nightingale still claims that “God has done all.” These three elements are the common ones claimed by those who make themselves available to be used by God. May we each incorporate all three into our own walk with God.

APRIL 19 “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”—John 17:18

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True godliness doesn’t turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to mend it.—William Penn WWJD? REFLECTION My wife is a skilled seamstress. She quickly restores garments that need mending, giving them many months of extra use, whereas they would otherwise be ready for the trash. In our own unique ways we all have talents given to us by God to help mend torn people. Some may help financially, others may pray diligently, still others may be called to daily hands-on involvement. But whatever our gifts, the mending pile of humanity grows daily.

APRIL 20 Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.

—Proverbs 24:16 Never let mistakes and wrong directions—which every human falls into—discourage you. There is precious instruction to be learned by finding that we are wrong. We must try faithfully to be right, and we will surely grow daily more and more right. Our very learning to walk was an incessant falling and rising again; falling and catching ourselves before we hit the ground until finally we walked with ease. How very emblematic this is of all a human being does.—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION James says, “We all stumble in many ways” (3:2). But we all must get up and move on. For most of us, I’m sure the number of times we’ve fallen far exceeds seven. Yet up we stand, dust ourselves off, and move on.

Never let your humanity discourage you. Jesus knows us quite well and He is our greatest advocate. If He still is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not ourselves with our tendency toward self-condemnation. Stand up straight today. You are God’s child, doing what Jesus would have you do.

APRIL 21 To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ…—Jude 1

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It is told of a saintly man that, by his own request, his only epitaph was “Kept.” We are all kept, if we do not fall away into the darkness of eternal death, by the power of God unto final salvation. Only those who overcome at last get home to glory. Only Christ can help us to be conquerors. And important as was his death for us, his real work in saving us is that which he does with us, one by one, in keeping us, guiding us, giving us grace for living, lifting us up when we have fallen, bringing us back when we have wandered away. Were it not for the patient watchful, never-wearying love of Christ, not one of us would ever get home. We are kept.

—J. R. Miller WWJD? REFLECTION Who keeps us? Do we keep ourselves? No, it’s Christ who keeps us—the same Christ whom we follow, serve, love, and emulate. We have committed the keeping of our souls to this Christ. We are divinely kept. Why then should we worry?

APRIL 22 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.—Acts 4:13 A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is His living biography, written out in the words and actions of His people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we would be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of Him that the world…when they once beheld us, would exclaim, “He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of Him; he is like Him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and everyday actions.”—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION We become like those with whom we spend time. If we spend hours in front of the TV, our thoughts will begin to reflect the values we see portrayed. If we spend time with Christ, we will become like Him, reflecting His values. Who would you rather your colleagues see in you, the cast of Friends or Jesus?

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APRIL 23 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.—Lamentations 3:22-23 The breathing I did yesterday will not keep me alive today—I must continue to breathe afresh every moment, or my life will cease. In like manner, yesterday’s grace and spiritual strength must be renewed, and the Holy Spirit must continue to breathe on my soul from moment to moment in order that I may continue to enjoy Him and to work the works He has assigned me.—Augustus Toplady WWJD? REFLECTION It’s useless to live on yesterday’s breathing and it’s useless to relive yesterday’s mistakes or appropriate yesterday’s mercies. His mercies are new every morning—a fresh supply awaits us today, one that is only for today. Our relationship with Christ must be one in which we ask “What Would Jesus Do today?”

APRIL 24 He rewards those who earnestly seek him.—Hebrews 11:6 Modern mankind can go anywhere, do everything and be completely curious about the universe. But only a rare person now and then is curious enough to want to know God.—A. W. Tozer WWJD? REFLECTION Curiosity can be a blessing or a curse. Regarding sin, curiosity can be deadly. But to have a curiosity that searches out the riches of God is a trait that God promises to bless. By daily asking “What Would Jesus Do?” we are using curiosity in the way that brings blessing.

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APRIL 25 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.—Hebrews 13:2 Every person we ever meet is God’s opportunity.—Frank Laubach WWJD? REFLECTION Here’s a challenge for today: before you walk out the door, ask God to direct your steps and to set up divine appointments with the people He wishes you to meet. Then watch for opportunities to ask yourself “What Would Jesus Do?” as you speak to these “angels.”

APRIL 26 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due;…honor to whom honor.—Romans 13:7, KJV The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words unsaid and deeds left undone.—Harriet Beecher Stowe WWJD? REFLECTION Why don’t we tell people how much they mean to us when we have the opportunity? So often we wait—especially with aging parents or loved ones—and then we find ourselves regretting not having given honor or tribute to whom it was due when we had the chance. Don’t let the day go by without giving honor to an honorable person—a person you know you will one day regret not having thanked for his or her part in your life.

APRIL 27 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.—1 Corinthians 10:17 One evening I was invited to a communion service with a small group of about twenty men and women. I had not known these people for very

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long, and I felt a little out of place. It was a very informal and relaxed gathering. We sat around a large table, lit only by candles. No one had been designated as a leader, so we all took turns sharing anything that was on our hearts. At first I was very reluctant to participate because it was so unstructured, which made me feel uncomfortable.

We sang some familiar hymns and praise choruses, followed by a time a silent prayer. A few minutes later someone read from the Scriptures, and then began to teach a little on the meaning of the passage. After she finished teaching, people began to share some of their own hurts and needs, and each person was received with warmth and encouragement. Then we took part in what was one of the most beautiful communion services I had ever experienced. As the bread came into my hands I actually felt the presence of Christ. I looked around the room and saw that everyone was holding a piece of bread from the same loaf, that each of us was holding the body of Christ. A woman began to pray, “Brothers and sisters…” I didn’t hear the rest of the prayer. I looked around at all of the bowed heads and it struck me, “These people are my family. That woman is my sister, that man is my brother.” For the rest of the evening I felt a kinship with every person in the room. It was like the meal shared by the two people on the road to Emmaus: in the breaking of the bread I saw the presence of Christ in our midst. We were held together by the love God had shown each of us; that was our common bond. When I walked to my car that night I felt as if I had just seen a glimpse of what heaven might be.—James Bryan Smith WWJD REFLECTION In many churches, Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, by whatever name we call it, suffers because we often partake of it as simply a ritual, with the true meaning obscured. The Lord Jesus Himself instituted this remembrance of Him. We honor Him each time we celebrate with other Christians. James Bryan Smith will never forget that one particular experience of the Lord’s Supper with a group of strangers—and yet, not strangers at all. For when we properly “discern the Lord’s body,” the feeling of kinship gives us a vision of what “heaven might be” and we gain strength for living the Christ life.

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APRIL 28 He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take up your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.

—Luke 5:24-25 If a person cannot be a Christian in the place where he is, he cannot be a Christian anywhere.—Henry Ward Beecher WWJD? REFLECTION It’s always tempting to think that asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is easier when we’re in a certain situation—anything other than our present circumstance. We tell ourselves we’ll wait until things are “back to normal” or our lives get better. But today, can we accept our present situation—whether it be family, work, church, poor health, or financial distress—and know that if we are ever to practice “What Would Jesus Do?” it must be in the midst of our hardest circumstance?

APRIL 29 Love…is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

—1 Corinthians 13:4-5 If you do not wish to become angry, do not be curious. If you ask what is being said about yourself and uncover unpleasant words (even though these words were said privately), you only make yourself unhappy.

Those who are wise overlook many wrongs and often do not take them as such, for either they do not know about them or, if they do, they make fun of them and turn them into jokes. To pay no attention to injuries is a mark of magnanimity. The really great and noble soul listens to wrongs as securely as the larger wild animals hear the barking of small dogs. —Martin of Braga WWJD? REFLECTION Thin-skinned Christians can never effectively practice asking “What Would Jesus Do?” To have hurt feelings over what has been

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said about us is to show we haven’t asked “What Would Jesus Do?” on a very basic level. Jesus not only was spoken against personally, He firmly said of his followers, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, because of me.” (Matthew 5:11). He followed that up with instructions to “rejoice and be glad.” In the classic love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul, in giving his definition of love, says that it is “not easily angered” and “keeps no record of wrongs.” This kind of love is a sure sign of a believer who’s asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

APRIL 30 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”—Luke 6:38 Never try to save out of God’s cause; such money will canker the rest. Giving to God is no loss; it is putting your substance in the best bank. Giving is true having.—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD REFLECTION Although many Christians mistakenly quote the Bible as saying that “money is the root of all evil,” the Scriptures actually teach that “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10). The best thing that can be said about the Christian’s attitude toward money is that it is “more blessed to give than to receive.”

For a greater blessing then, be a giver.

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MAY MAY 1 “Be at peace with one another.”—Mark 9:50, NASB First put yourself at peace, and then you may the better make others be at peace. A peaceful and patient person is of more profit to himself and to others too, than a learned person who has no peace.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION To be at peace as Jesus was, we need to fully rest in Him. When assaults come that seek to rob us of our peace, we can stand if we’re prepared ahead of time. Our God is the God of peace. Today, let the words of Jesus, “Be at peace with one another,” be your motto.

MAY 2 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?—Psalm 137:4 Christianity has always thrived under persecution. At such times she has no lukewarm professors, no adherents concerning whom it is doubtful to what party they belong. The Christian then is reminded at every turn that his Master’s kingdom is not of this world. When all on earth wear a black and threatening aspect, he looks up to heaven for consolation; he learns practically to consider himself as a pilgrim and stranger…. [But] when Christianity is in a state of external quiet and prosperity, the contrary of all this naturally takes place. The soldiers of the church militant forget that they are in a state of warfare. Their ardor slackens, their zeal languishes. Like a colony long settled in a strange country, they are gradually assimilated in features and demeanor and language to the native inhabitants till at length almost every vestige of peculiarity dies away.

—William Wilberforce WWJD? REFLECTION Has your ardor slackened? Are you still aware that you are in a “state of warfare”? Can you detect signs of “assimilation” in your life—that is, are you feeling more at one with the world system, or are you realizing that you’re merely a visitor here, a stranger in a strange land? Jesus

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lived daily the life of an alien on this planet as an example to us. By doing what He would do, we’re learning how to live in a strange land.

MAY 3 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”—Matthew 25:41 When we preach on hell, we might at least do it with tears in our eyes.

—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION The existence of hell is not often talked about these days. Most people in a recent survey indicated that they believed in heaven, but were less convinced of hell. As C. S. Lewis notes in his classic The Screw-tape Letters, one of Satan’s chief strategies is to convince people that he doesn’t exist. And yet Jesus warned quite frankly of the existence of hell, though He made it clear that hell was created not for humans, but for “the devil and his angels.” Regarding the reality of hell, and the tragic truth that those who deny Christ will abide there forever, we need to heed Dwight Moody’s plea for tears. Jesus has no delight in the existence of hell; neither has our Father who “is patient,…not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

MAY 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.—1 Corinthians 13:4 A Christian is one who rejoices in the superiority of a rival.—Edwin Booth WWJD? REFLECTION Have you competitors in life? Fellow employees, students, athletes, or some other (perhaps friendly) rivals? Can you honestly rejoice with them in their triumphs? Nothing better exemplifies the love of Christ than joy in another’s accomplishments. And nothing destroys love faster than envy and pride.

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MAY 5 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly.

—1 Timothy 1:14 Gentlemen, half my life I have been teaching the grace of God, but I am just beginning to understand it. And gentlemen, it is magnificent. It is magnificent!—Lewis Sperry Chafer WWJD? REFLECTION Christians who have spent many years in the faith develop a deep appreciation for the grace of God. By learning to do what Jesus would do, we learn two very distinct things about the grace of God. One, we can’t begin to do what Jesus would do without an abundance of grace “poured out on us”—daily! But wonder of wonders, the second thing we learn about God’s grace is that it is enough for us, it is magnificent!

Bathe today in the ocean of God’s transforming, empowering, free grace. There is an abundance!

MAY 6 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.—Isaiah 32:18 When home is ruled according to God’s word, angels might be asked to stay with us, and they would not find themselves out of their element.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION Although Jesus had no home, once He began His public ministry, He believed that those who had homes and families must be faithful to them. He was strict about the grounds for divorce, and He spoke highly of children—even saying that “of such is the kingdom of heaven.” If God has placed you in a family, you have a part to play in seeing that home is a haven—a place where angels “would not find themselves out of their element” and where Christ also would feel at home.

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MAY 7 For my days vanish like smoke…—Psalm 102:3 No one has any more time than you have. It is the discipline and stewardship of your time that is important. The management of time is the management of self; therefore if you manage time with God, He will be begin to manage you.—Jill Briscoe WWJD? REFLECTION How good are you at time management? Do you manage time or does time manage you? Lost time can never be regained. The biggest mistake most people make is to think that by hurrying through their day, they will somehow come out ahead at day’s end. But it’s those who budget their time and plan their day who actually have more spare time. The solution is to give your time to God and ask Him to help you budget it faithfully.

MAY 8 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”—Exodus 3:5 Do you remember Moses at the burning bush? God had to tell him to take off his shoes—he didn’t know he was on holy ground. And if we can just come to see that right where we are is holy ground—in our jobs and homes, with our co-workers and friends and families. This is where we learn to pray.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION For Christians, every place they walk is, in a sense, holy ground. We lose sight of the preciousness of our daily steps, that God hallows the ordinary that’s committed to Him. Tourists who have visited Israel and have seen the places where Jesus walked often experience a sense of awe at being where Jesus was when He walked on earth. Yet He lives today, and He still walks on earth—in our shoes as we do what Jesus would do. Look around you, and see the holy ground on which you walk.

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MAY 9 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.—Galatians 6:7-8 The longer I live, the more I am enabled to realize that I have but one life to live on earth, and that this one life is but a brief life, for sowing, in comparison with eternity, for reaping.—George Mueller WWJD? REFLECTION Each day we sow seed for the future. Some of fruit we will reap in this life, some in eternity. Most of our sowing is done unconsciously—we don’t deliberately think of what kind of crop, bad or good, we’ll reap by our actions and words. As we do what Jesus would do, we sow seed for eternal reaping. Someday we’ll be privileged to see the harvest.

Today, sow some seeds for eternity.

MAY 10 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.—1 John 4:12 God has commanded us to be perfect in love; not because He was unaware that such a command far exceeded our abilities, but because He desired thereby to remind us of our weakness, and to keep before us the prize of righteousness after which we strive. In thus demanding from man an impossibility, it is not with a view of hurling him into sin, but of compelling him to humility…. When, therefore we hear this command, and are sensible of our inability to fulfill its requirements, our only course is to cry unto Heaven; then will our gracious Father look down in His mercy and supply the needed strength.—Bernard of Clairvaux WWJD? REFLECTION Here is where most Christians fail: they think that they must do what Jesus would do in their own strength. Such a task is an

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impossibility—that’s why Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). When you ask yourself today “What Would Jesus Do?” also be sure and ask for the required strength.

He will not disappoint.

MAY 11 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me.—Ephesians 3:8 One of God’s specialties is to make somebodies out of nobodies.

—Henrietta Mears WWJD? REFLECTION The secret of doing what Jesus would do is to be willing to be a nobody. The Apostle Paul considered himself to be the “least of all God’s people,” and it was this attitude that allowed God to give Paul the grace to be His somebody. God will use us too if we can give up being the “somebody” we think we ought to be. Does this mean we become bland, boring Christians? Not if history is accurate. The Apostle Paul had a vigorous personality and was by no means bland or boring. Most Christians who are used of God are, in fact, more alive as the “somebodies” of God than they were before they surrendered to Him.

Asking “What Would Jesus Do?” means we are saying yes to being nobodies, that we might be somebodies to God.

MAY 12 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son…—Romans 8:29 We must imitate Jesus. This is to live life as he lived, to think as he thought, to conform ourselves to his image, which is the seal of our sanctification.—François Fénelon

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WWJD? REFLECTION There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “If you aim at nothing, you’re sure to hit your target.” As we do what Jesus would do, it’s important that we keep our eyes on our goal, which is Christ Himself. We want to be conformed to our Master in our attitudes toward others, in our ability to make wise decisions, and in our stewardship of all that God has given us.

Each morning we need to take time to set Christ before us as our goal for the day. When distractions come that attempt to shift our gaze away from Him, we must develop the habit of quickly returning our eyes to the goal. It’s a divine law that we shall become like that which is our most cherished object of affection. May our affections thus be on Christ alone.

MAY 13 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”—Luke 12:32 Faith doesn’t show what a Christian you are, it shows what a God you have. The more we get from God the bigger beggars we are and the grander Father is He. That is, He puts us in a position where we must take a great deal and He is disappointed when we fail to do so.—A. B. Simpson WWJD? REFLECTION Is it possible that God created mankind because His love nature needed a creature on which to lavish His love? In all of the universe there is but one object of God’s love—His church.

Jesus’ message was that of God’s love (“For God so loved the world…”). His deeds were deeds of love. His exhortation was to receive God’s love. We have a Father who desperately wants to show His grandness in providing for our every need. To best demonstrate that grandness, He sometimes puts us in a place where we have no other option but to trust in Him. The goal? To trust Him in all things. Today, remember, Jesus wants us to know that our Father’s “pleased” to give to us. Receive.

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MAY 14 He makes… flames of fire his servants.—Psalm 104:4 Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul? Short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him. “Make me thy fuel, Flame of God….”

I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.—Jim Elliot The light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame.—Isaiah 10:17 WWJD? REFLECTION Jim Elliot’s words, taken from his journal, proved prophetic as he and his four companions were slaughtered by the Auca Indians to whom they came to minister. His prayer to live not necessarily a “long life, but a full one” is the prayer of every Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” for it expresses the very life that Jesus lived—short, but fulfilling the mission God had for Him.

MAY 15 And they gathered [the manna] every morning, every man according to his eating.—Exodus 16:21, KJV It may be that for a long time you have had upon your mind some strong impression of duty; but you have held back, because you could not see what the next step would be. Hesitate no longer. Step out upon what seems to be the impalpable mist: you will find a solid rock beneath your feet; and every time you put your foot forward, you will find that God has prepared a stepping-stone, and the next, and the next—each as you come to it. The bread is by the day. The manna is new every morning. He does not give us all the directions at once lest we should get confused.

—F. B. Meyer

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WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus didn’t begin His ministry until approximately age thirty. He didn’t rush headlong into public ministry before God’s time. Yet, when He knew God’s timing was right, He began the visible ministry that comprises the bulk of the four Gospels. Don’t fear stepping out—neither get ahead of God. Be alert to God’s timing. Do only what is necessary for today’s advancement of God’s work in your life.

Tomorrow there will be fresh manna.

MAY 16 But this one thing I do…—Philippians 3:13, KJV The trouble with a great many Christians is that they spread themselves over too much ground. They fail in everything. If they would only put their life into one channel, and keep in it, they would accomplish something. They make no impression because they do a little work here and a little work there…. Lay yourselves on the altar of God, and then concentrate on some one work.—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION Are there too many items on your agenda, none of which gets your full attention? Consider two great Christians and their willingness to do one thing: Billy Graham has said repeatedly that he’s called to be an evangelist—not a pastor, teacher, or anything else. It’s doubtful that Mother Teresa would have had the same impact if she had broadened her focus to include other than her stated ministry to “the poorest of the poor.” You and I aren’t Billy Graham or Mother Teresa, but in our own sphere of activity, we too can eliminate much that is good in order to do what we can do best. Remember this: the good is always the enemy of the best.

MAY 17 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”—James 4:6

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The reader of the Scriptures should be a humble person, who shows reverence and fear toward the Word of God, who constantly says, “Teach me, teach me, teach me.” The Spirit resists the proud, even though they are zealous and preach Christ for a time without fault…. Therefore it is humility that we need in the study of God’s Word.—Martin Luther WWJD? REFLECTION Some “scholars” have studied God’s Word and have decided that this or that event or Scripture is erroneous. Interestingly, quite often the parts of the Bible they want to eliminate are the ones that strike closest to home. If they can deem the passage not inspired, then they no longer are accountable to its truth. Those who, in humility, hear God speak through all of Scripture will profit—both now and in eternity—by their willingness to be held to its standard. If we ask “What Would Jesus Do?” we need look no further than the Gospels to discover what our attitude should be regarding the Scriptures. Jesus often quoted Old Testament Scriptures as fact. He believed in their accuracy.

So should we.

MAY 18 “Freely you have received, freely give.”—Matthew 10:8

Go break to the needy sweet charity’s bread; “For giving is living,” the angel said. “And must I be giving again and again?” My peevish and pitiless answer ran. “Oh no,” said the angel, piercing me through, “Just give till the Master stops giving to you.”—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION Those who are most successful at doing what Jesus would do have learned the secret of being a channel of blessing, wherein God pours blessings in us, and through us to others. Those who try to embrace the blessing of God, soon find the blessing has departed. Today watch for a chance to give to someone, without expecting a return, or even a “Thanks.”

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MAY 19 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.—Psalm 40:3 God wants our life to be a song. He has written the music for us in His Word and in the duties that come to us in our places and relations in life. The things we ought to do are the notes set upon the staff. To make our life beautiful music we must be obedient and submissive. Any disobedience is the singing of a false note, and yields discord.—J. R. Miller WWJD? REFLECTION If your life could be a song, what would it be? “Amazing Grace”? “I Love to Tell the Story”? “Awesome God”? Whatever the song, Jesus would have it be a song of joy, praise, and thanksgiving, not a gloomy dirge like “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” Leave the house today with a song “in your mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”

MAY 20 “Lord,” I replied, “these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.”—Acts 22:19-20 The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.—Tertullian WWJD? REFLECTION The above words from the book of Acts were spoken by the Apostle Paul as he recalled his complicity in the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. God knew at that tragic, yet glorious moment what the future held for Paul, who was then called Saul of Tarsus. Although most of us will never be martyred, we must still have the mind-set of willingness to die for our Lord, the same mind that was in Christ when He was willing to die for us.

Today, remember the death of the Lord on your behalf.

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MAY 21 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man…

—Ephesians 3:16, KJV The Lord imparts to us that primary strength of character that makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us that we cannot exhaust.

—Lettie B. Cowman WWJD? REFLECTION I go to the gym at least two or three times a week to work out. Yet I know that doing what Jesus would do is also a workout. The one exercises my outer man, the other my inner man. The difference is that my outer man must labor to gain strength, while my inner man is “strengthened with might by his Spirit.” As Mrs. Cowman says, this strength is continuous, inexhaustible reserves of power—given to us by God so that we can live a life of obedience. The workout of our inner man is not so much to build our muscles as to exercise them and keep them in shape. We’re not working out to be strong—we’re working out because we are strong. Doing what Jesus would do gives expression to the power He freely supplies.

MAY 22 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

—John 8:32 Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulses. There lies freedom indeed.

—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION To the casual observer, asking “What Would Jesus Do?” must seem like bondage. Yet just the opposite is true. As we learn to react to situations as Jesus would, we find freedom from ourselves and our natural

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“overwhelming impulses.” Having, as MacDonald says, the “power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done” is a power more dynamic than any bomb that can be detonated. Today, remember the power you have in doing what Jesus would do.

MAY 23 “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”—John 15:16 Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance, but taking hold of God’s willingness.—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians underestimate both their own power in prayer, and God’s willingness to answer prayer. As one bumper sticker says, “God answers prayer—but don’t expect a million-dollar answer to a ten-cent prayer.” It’s not that we need to plead or beg God, but we do need to be serious. We also need to recognize that prayer is more than asking God for blessings. It involves praise, gratitude, and listening.

Far too often our prayers only consist of little sentence prayers shot hopefully upward. We seldom seem to want to go to the level of prayer that is a deep, abiding communion with God in which we engage the ear of God on behalf of our petitions. Jesus prayed often and expected God to answer. Take prayer as seriously as Jesus did.

MAY 24 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”—Matthew 10:29-31

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John G. Paton was born on May 24, 1824, in Dumfries County, Scotland. His father was a godly weaver who kept his stocking frames in a back room of the house and his Bible on the front table. Paton’s biographer says that the Scottish traditions of church-going and Bible stories and the Shorter Catechism were “not tasks but pleasures” in the Paton home.

John had to quit school when he was twelve to help his father support the family of eleven children. When he was seventeen he had a deep experience of conversion that brought all the teaching and love of his parents home to his own heart. Soon the call to Christian service became irresistible and Paton worked for ten years as a city missionary in Glasgow among the poor children of the slums. At thirty-two he accepted the call to missionary service in the New Hebrides, in the South Pacific. In March of 1858 he married Mary Ann Robson, and on April 16 they sailed together for the cannibal island of Tanna. In less than a year they had built a little home and Mary had given birth to a son. But on March 3, 1859, one year after their marriage, Mary died of the fever, and in three weeks the infant son died. John Paton buried them alone, and wrote, “But for Jesus…I’d have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave.” One of the gifts that Jesus had given him to sustain him in those days were the words his wife spoke shortly before her death. She did not murmur against God in her final sickness or resent her husband bringing her to the New Hebrides. Rather she spoke these incredible words: “I do not regret leaving home and friends. If I had it to do over, I would do it with more pleasure, yes, with all my heart.”—John Piper WWJD? REFLECTION Those who do what Jesus would do find themselves shackled to joy. Even facing death, a believer knows that God is in charge. This knowledge is an anchor that non-Christians never experience. How many of us could echo Mary Paton in her commitment to leave her home for a land in which she would soon die without regret?

MAY 25 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you

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hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”—Jeremiah 29:11-12 If we are to better the future we must disturb the present.

—Catherine Booth WWJD? REFLECTION God has plans for us. He is not content to leave us where we are today. Our asking “What Would Jesus Do?” should include a new way of looking at the future that may result in disturbing the present. To walk means to go forward, to move into the future. Our future, then, begins now, with the next step we take. Too many of us remain complacent about the plans God has for us—plans for prosperity and hope. If we will ask “What Would Jesus Do?” we’ll find ourselves walking briskly toward that prosperous future God is planning for us.

Today as you walk, remind yourself that each step is a step into God’s future for you.

MAY 26 The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.—Proverbs 28:1 It is not those who commit the least faults who are the most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love, who make the boldest efforts to overcome themselves, and are not immediately apprehensive of tripping.—Francis de Sales WWJD? REFLECTION Are you, like me, so “apprehensive of tripping” that you don’t exhibit the lionlike boldness of “the righteous”? One of the signs of the filling of the disciples with the Holy Spirit was that they spoke the word of God “with boldness” (Acts 4:29, 31). Jesus was certainly bold—it’s what got Him in trouble with the Pharisees. But Christ-inspired, love-engendered boldness is what’s called for in Christians who are asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

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MAY 27 You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

—1 Thessalonians 1:9 The best theology is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge.

—Jeremy Taylor WWJD? REFLECTION Many who have studied theology for years have a great scholarly understanding of the Christian faith. However, such knowledge can never bring a person to reap the same fruits as those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” It’s a heart knowledge, not a head knowledge, of “the true and living God” that brings life to us. We can’t allow our study of Christ to be merely the accumulation of facts about Him, we must know Him…and be known by Him.

MAY 28 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.—1 Peter 5:8-9 Know well that the enemy labors in all ways to dampen your desire to do good and to render you ineffective in good works.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION In our attempts at doing what Jesus would do, we have an enemy. He is not all-powerful, though he has some power. He works very hard at preventing us from doing what Jesus would do. And yet, if we “resist him, standing firm in the faith,” we won’t be thwarted.

Jesus knew the right way to handle Satan, and if we handle the enemy in the same way, he will flee. Christians, who by definition have Christ in them, are stronger than Satan or any of his thugs. Today, see if you can spot a strategy of Satan to defeat you—and when you do, stand firm!

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MAY 29 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.—Proverbs 11:2 Pride is a vice that ill suits those who would lead others in a humble way to heaven. Let us take heed, lest when we have brought others so far, the gates should prove too narrow for ourselves. For God, who thrust out a proud angel, will not tolerate a proud [Christian] either. For it is pride that is at the root of all other sins: envy, contention, discontent, and all hindrances that would prevent renewal.

Where there is pride, all want to lead and none want to follow or to agree.—Richard Baxter WWJD? REFLECTION Remember, Lucifer was once an angel. It was his pride that resulted in his fall. Pride can destroy our efforts at asking “What Would Jesus Do?” If we’re consistently doing what Jesus would do and seeing terrific results, we must guard against the subtle hubris that can accompany success. Check yourself. Is pride a problem? Then proceed no further in asking “What Would Jesus Do?” until it’s resolved. For pride in doing right is the farthest thing from the spirit of Jesus Christ and it’s impossible to do what Jesus would do and retain a prideful spirit.

MAY 30 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God.—1 John 3:10 Character is what you are in the dark.—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION Some decisions about what Jesus would do are as clear as black and white. But sometimes the answer to “What Would Jesus Do?” isn’t quite so apparent. At yet other times, we know the right answer, but don’t want to do it. One of those times is when nobody will ever know which

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choice we’ve made. This is the time that Moody refers to as being “in the dark.” At such times we think we can overlook a duty or commit a “small” sin because no one will ever know.

But God has given us a conscience—and if we’re serious about doing what Jesus would do, we’ll find our consciences will never give us peace if we hold ourselves to a different standard in the night than we do in the day. Violations of our conscience may not seem troublesome at first glance, but an uneasiness grows that can only be eased by confession and repentance. A few such painful experiences and we quickly realize that choosing to do what Jesus would do—day or night—is the fastest way to a good night’s sleep.

MAY 31 But I am a man of prayer.—Psalm 109:4 Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.—William Carey WWJD? REFLECTION The Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” must be “fervent” in prayer. How else can we accomplish all that God has for us to do? This fervent prayer must also be in secret and in faith. All are aspects of the prayer life of the Christ who, in prayer, sweat drops of blood in His fervency.

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JUNE JUNE 1 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace.— 1 Corinthians 14:33 It is an incorrect view of Scripture to say that we will always comprehend what God is doing and how our suffering and disappointment fit into His plan. Sooner or later, most of us come to a point where it appears that God has lost control—or interest—in the affairs of people. It is only an illusion, but one with dangerous implications for spiritual and mental health. Interestingly enough, pain and suffering do not cause the greatest damage. Confusion is the factor that shreds one’s faith.—James Dobson WWJD? REFLECTION “What Would Jesus Do?” isn’t a magic formula for instant spirituality. Nor does it guarantee that we’ll be fountains of wisdom with the answers to all of life’s tough questions. But obedience to God does bring peace in the midst of turmoil and dispels the confusion that “shreds” our faith. Many Bible heroes went through extremely trying circumstances with faith as their only anchor. By faith Abraham offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, not knowing what God was up to—but he wasn’t confused. Rahab, Ruth, David, and Daniel are a few other names of Bible heroes of the faith who remind us that faith wins out—even when we don’t see how it can possibly be so.

There is no confusion with God.

JUNE 2 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

—James 4:3 Some people think the prayer of faith is crawling out on a limb and then begging God to keep someone from sawing it off. But that is not real prayer, that is presumption. If God makes it clear that He wants you out on a limb, fine—you will be perfectly safe there. If not, it is presumptuous to crawl out on that limb, expecting God to keep you there.—Ray Stedman

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WWJD? REFLECTION Most limbs we crawl out on and from which we eventually need rescuing are those that we somehow justify to ourselves, even as we are inching our way on the limb. When we want to do something, we often rationalize our presumptive behavior, even giving it a Christian tag. Jesus never did anything in which He didn’t hear from the Father first. So too every decision of ours must be from faith, not presumption.

JUNE 3 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”—Luke 10:29 A man does not choose his neighbor; he must take the neighbor God sends him. The neighbor is just the man who is next to you at the moment, the man with whom any business has brought you into contact.

—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION During our lifetime God sends us many “neighbors.” Even the person standing ahead of us in the supermarket check-out line is our neighbor, briefly. To each we owe kindness and, if appropriate, a word of encouragement. Though doubtless Jesus passed by many people with whom He had no direct encounter, He was very aware of the “God-appointments” that prompted conversation. Examples include the woman at the well, Zacchaeus, and of course the disciples as He called each of them to follow Him. In the same way, He has called us; and we have thus become His neighbors.

JUNE 4 Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.—James 1:19 Do not seek to plunge into the sea of knowledge all at once, but go there by way of the many streams that flow into it, since it is wiser to reach the more difficult things by way of the less difficult…. I charge you to be

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slow to speak and slow to frequent places where men talk. Embrace cleanness of conscience. Be constant in prayer. Love to dwell in your inner room if you would penetrate into the inner room of your Beloved. Be courteous to everyone. Do not look too deeply into the deeds of others. Do not be overly familiar with anyone, for too great a familiarity breeds contempt and offers an occasion for being distracted from study. Do not in any way wish to pry into the words and deeds of worldly people. Flee from useless conversations. Do not forget to imitate the ways of the saints and holy people. Do not feel obliged to listen to what everyone says, but commit to memory anything good that you might hear others say…. By these steps you will bring forth useful branches and fruits in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth while life is in you. If you walk this way, you may obtain all that you desire.—Thomas Aquinas WWJD? REFLECTION One characteristic of our current culture is that it blares its ungodly values at us unceasingly. To set oneself apart for spiritual disciplines requires saying no to a great amount of enticement. Further, it requires a taking oneself firmly in hand and retreating from much unnecessary activity. While Jesus rubbed shoulders with the crowds frequently, He also withdrew often for privacy with God. If we would do as Jesus did, we too must refuel ourselves frequently as we take time away from the crowds to be with our Father.

JUNE 5 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.—Matthew 8:3 God has given us two hands—one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.—Billy Graham WWJD? REFLECTION Imagine yourself transported back to Biblical days. You are the leper in Matthew 8. Jesus comes by, says He is willing that you be clean, and touches you. Immediately you are healed. You rejoice in your clean status. But more, there is the touch of Jesus. Surely the leper could have been healed with just a word from Jesus; others were. And yet “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.”

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I don’t know about you, but the thought of Jesus touching me and making me whole is awesome. There’s something in the practice of touching another—whether a simple handshake, hug, or gentle pat on the back—that says, “I really care about you.” Such affectionate gestures are physical reminders of the love we offer in Christ’s name.

JUNE 6 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.—Proverbs 21:5 Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge.—Eugene Peterson WWJD? REFLECTION Sometimes when we’re good at something, we default to doing it because it has become easy to us. But that can work against us. God wants us to move on, take the next step, the one that stretches us. Busyness with what we already know keeps us from advances to what we need to know next.

JUNE 7 And he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.—Luke 9:2 The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we must become.—Henry Martyn WWJD? REFLECTION There are thousands of Christians who, after asking “What Would Jesus Do?” have left all to spread the gospel to foreign lands. Those of us who stay at home also serve—if we remember to pray and support our brothers and sisters on the mission field. Set aside a monthly amount to

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help support a missionary. In so doing, you become intensely involved in their work. But remember, giving money never substitutes for action on our part when God so guides. If we would do what Jesus would do, we must develop a missionary spirit within ourselves, even if our mission field is the office, the school, or our neighborhood.

JUNE 8 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.—Romans 12:1 The surrender of myself to him is inseparable from the giving up of my body to him in such a way that it can serve both him and me as a common abode…. The vitality and power of Christianity is lost when we fail to integrate our bodies into its practice by intelligent, conscious choice and steadfast intent. It is with our bodies we receive the new life that comes as we enter his Kingdom.

It can’t be any other way. If salvation is to affect our lives, it can do so only by affecting our bodies. If we are to participate in the reign of God, it can only be by our actions. And our actions are physical—we live only in the processes of our bodies. To withhold our bodies from religion is to exclude religion from our lives. Our life is a bodily life, even though that life is one that can be fulfilled solely in union with God.—Dallas Willard WWJD? REFLECTION Christ gave His body for us. “He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight…” (Colossians 1:22). The offering up of the body is, as Paul says in the King James Version, “your reasonable service.”

As Jesus considered His body not His own, so we should offer our body in sacrifice to Him. It’s amazing the sins that can be overcome when we no longer consider our body our own.

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JUNE 9 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.—Titus 3:3 When passion is on the throne, reason is out of doors.—Matthew Henry WWJD? REFLECTION How is it with your passions? Are they in submission to Christ, or do they have free reign, interfering with your spiritual life? To be “enslaved by passions” is something that was a problem for us at one time, Paul wrote Titus. To continue to be so enslaved is unnecessary. Christ has set us free from the rule of passion. Our part is to, by a faith decision, appropriate the work He has done.

If we must be passionate, let’s be passionate about asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

JUNE 10 Let another praise you and not your own mouth; someone else and not your own lips.—Proverbs 27:2 It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment.

—Bernard of Clairvaux WWJD? REFLECTION Is it hard to receive praise from another? Persons of genuine lowliness can accept words of praise—because they know the source of their good actions. It’s pride that rebels against a word of honor.

May grace and thanksgiving to God be given us when we excel.

JUNE 11 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any doubleedged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,

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joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.—Hebrews 4:12 The study of inspired Scripture is the chief way of finding our duty.

—Basil the Great WWJD? REFLECTION If we’re seeking to know what Jesus would do, we must become more and more acquainted with the Word of God. In the opening sentence of the Gospel of John we’re told that “In the beginning was the Word.” A few verses later we read that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus Christ was the flesh and blood expression of the Word—and He dwelt among us.

By getting to knowing Scripture, we’ll better know the Living Word and we’ll begin to know instinctively what Jesus would do. To be effective, this requires more than reading the Word. At some point a serious Christian has to do as David and hide God’s Word in his heart (Psalm 119:11). Many Christians do this by memorizing isolated verses, but a more effective way is to commit a larger portion of Scripture to memory—starting perhaps with one we’re already familiar with such as Psalm 23. Don’t let a poor memory keep you from this practice. Your memory will improve with use. Jesus knew many Scriptures by heart, and it’s important that we do too.

JUNE 12 A man’s wisdom gives him patience.—Proverbs 19:11 If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than any other talent.—Isaac Newton WWJD? REFLECTION When we allow impatience to dominate our life, we miss much. A lot of our lack of patience can be traced to our culture. We have so many options for occupations, hobbies, and leisure activities that we sometimes think of life as a huge buffet where we can rush from one dish to another, nibbling our way through the years. But those who have enjoyed lasting success have largely given themselves patiently to a few well-chosen tasks and developed the capacity to say no to many fine things that would distract.

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We need to keep our lives patiently on track, simply doing what Jesus would do without interruption.

JUNE 13 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

—2 Corinthians 7:10 Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION We all have experienced the depression that comes from “worldly sorrow” over our sins. Such a heaviness of spirit is not from God. Rather He offers “godly sorrow” for our sins, which brings repentance…and new life. One of Jesus’ first sermons was a message on repentance (Matthew 4:17). It’s a sermon we still need to hear and obey. What’s in your life for which God is offering you godly sorrow, that you might repent?

JUNE 14 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”—Genesis 22:8 God sends rain and fruitful seasons, but though they come, they never come in the same way in any one year, and I find that, as a rule, when I need anything, that it comes from a quarter that I never expected, and that from the quarter where it had come before it does not now. Thus God keeps the eye on Himself and not on the donor.—J. B. Stoney WWJD? REFLECTION Never look for provision from any expected source, for the moment it’s expected, it no longer gives credit to God to supply as He wishes. When Peter asked Jesus about taxes, the Lord instructed Peter to “go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for

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my tax and yours” (Matthew 17:27). God often supplies to us fresh abundance from His storehouse through means we don’t expect, even as unexpected a source as the mouth of a fish.

JUNE 15 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord.”—John 10:17-18 If I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for the women of China.

—Lottie Moon WWJD? REFLECTION This is the same Lottie Moon who once said, “I hope no missionary will have to be as lonely as I’ve been.” Lottie gave up her life as a very promising Southern belle for the arduous life of a missionary to China.

Daily we have an opportunity to lay down our lives “on our own accord” for Christ. Learn to make that daily decision with joy and expectation.

JUNE 16 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.—Philippians 4:13 Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger people. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.

—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION Living a life that asks “What Would Jesus Do?” is really a miraculous life. Think of it—we who are prone to seeking the easy way out when times get tough, who are without strength to live as we should, are nonetheless given strength for every hard thing that comes to us. Further, this strength is from God Himself! No wonder Phillips Brooks says we shall be a miracle. Today, let’s accept the weights that would drag us down with the

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knowledge that God has supplied the supernatural strength needed for this day—and let’s remember that His strength is the strength of Christ in us.

JUNE 17 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?—1 Corinthians 1:20 The less theorizing you do about God, the more receptive you are to His inpouring.—Meister Eckhart WWJD? REFLECTION Have you ever tried to second-guess what God was doing, and why? This seldom works. More importantly, faith doesn’t have to know why. Whatever you encounter today, don’t worry about what God’s doing, just do what Jesus would do.

Trust.

JUNE 18 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

—Matthew 10:32-33 Nearly two hundred years ago there were two Scottish brothers named John and David Livingstone. John had his mind set on making money and becoming wealthy, and he did. But under his name in an old edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica John Livingstone is listed simply as “the brother of David Livingstone.”

And who was David Livingstone? While John had dedicated himself to making money, David had knelt and prayed. Surrendering himself to Christ, he resolved, “I will place no value on anything I have or possess

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unless it is relationship to the Kingdom of God.” The inscription over his burial place in Westminster Abbey reads, “For thirty years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize.” On his fifty-ninth birthday David Livingstone wrote, “My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All; I again dedicate my whole self to Thee.” —Billy Graham WWJD? REFLECTION Though few of us are called to ministries as visible as those of David Livingstone or Billy Graham, we follow the same principle they did—and Jesus did. All we do in response to asking “What Would Jesus Do?” must be centered on its “relationship to the kingdom of God.”

JUNE 19 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.—Matthew 19:21-22 Wealth is like a viper, which is harmless if a man knows how to take hold of it, but if he does not, it will twine round his hand and bite him.

—Clement of Alexandria WWJD? REFLECTION As many Bible commentators have pointed out, Jesus actually called thirteen men to follow Him. The rich young man of Matthew 19 was the only one of the thirteen who said no to Jesus. And his reason? “Because he had great wealth.” For this man, his money was the hard thing—a viper twined around his life which he could not give up for the Lord. For others of us, there are other temptations. Sometimes we witness to a person and we hear his or her excuse as some variation on the sad young man’s excuse. To walk as Jesus walked is to inherit true riches. It has always thus puzzled me that a person should ever say no to anything Christ asks. To follow Him is to find, not to lose, great wealth.

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JUNE 20 [Jesus’] mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

—John 2:5 Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

—John Wooden WWJD? REFLECTION One obstacle we may find in fulfilling our commitment to doing what Jesus would do is to make the mistake that we can do everything by ourselves. The truth is that if each of us, as Christians, would simply “do whatever He tells us,” the enormous load of suffering in the world would be greatly eased as we all shouldered our own responsibilities and none else. There are many fine things you cannot do. Don’t be discouraged about them. Do what you can do.

JUNE 21 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”—Matthew 18:35 “I can forgive, but I cannot forget” is only another way of saying, “I will not forgive.” Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it can never be shown against the forgiven party again.—Henry Ward Beecher WWJD? REFLECTION There’s no doubt about it—tremendous hurts do great damage. We can be emotionally and spiritually crippled for years if we haven’t learned how to forgive and move on.

But we can pursue healing, if we’re willing. First, asking “What Would Jesus Do?” about the offense we’ve suffered will lead us to consider our own trespasses against God. What has been His response? A true apprehension of both the depth of our sin and the extent of His forgiveness will leave us no option but to fully forgive others who have wronged us. Forgetting can sometimes be trickier. In fact, can we really forget an incident that may have affected our life dramatically? Sometimes the fruit of the

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offense is with us daily. For instance, a physical injury caused by another, a pregnancy resulting from sexual sin, the death of a loved one due to the negligence of another. We can’t forget such major events in our lives, but maybe we can recast the memory. We need to ask God for a new way to think about the offense. This is a highly personal and individual matter. No one can do this for us, except God. Give Him time to recast all your painful memories. It will dispel the bitterness.

JUNE 22 “Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”—Mark 8:37 We see the most proper image of the beauty of Christ when we see beauty in the human soul.—Jonathan Edwards WWJD? REFLECTION The concept of the human “soul” isn’t talked about much these days, even in many churches; but it’s important to know that we’re more than just what we see in the mirror. In our dealings with other people, we need to do as Jesus did and see beyond the sometimes rough exterior of a person to discover the beauty of a soul for whom Jesus died.

Everyone knows someone in whom it’s hard to see beauty of soul. But Christ died for all. Look at the hardest person in your life through Jesus’ eyes today. Look for a soul.

JUNE 23 “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”—Matthew 19:30 The most eminent Christian is one of those of whom no one has ever heard speak, some poor laborer, or servant, whose all is Christ, and who does all for His eye, and His alone. The first shall be last.

—John Nelson Darby

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WWJD? REFLECTION I’ve often thought that the most highly rewarded in heaven will be those obscure, unheard of Christians who labored and interceded faithfully while on earth. No one will have heard of them; all will be surprised. But isn’t this just like God? He has always worked through the unknown and unlovely. Jesse’s older, more mature sons were passed over by Samuel; instead it was David, the least of the sons, who was chosen. It was from Bethlehem, in a stable, that the Son of God came to earth.

Jesus didn’t elbow His way to be the first—rather He came in the form of a servant. We too must be content in the role of a servant.

JUNE 24 “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”—John 13:17 A godly heart produces a blessed life.—Sextus WWJD? REFLECTION Who among us does not wish to be blessed? God gives the recipe for such a life—it’s in doing what Jesus would do. Have you considered your blessed state by entering into a life of doing what Jesus would do?

You are indeed blessed!

JUNE 25 At once they left their nets and followed him.—Mark 1:18 No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow. It is only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquillity, and hindering our communion with God. If there be

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lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it.

—Alexander Maclaren WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus was no procrastinator. Today, we follow in His steps and clear the ledger of some long unfinished bit of business that we’ve put off. If we have no such unfinished business, then another way to show our victory over procrastination is to call or write a person who needs to hear from us.

Offer them a blessing in the name of the Lord. Do it now.

JUNE 26 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”—Mark 12:42-44

It’s not what you’d do with a million, If riches should e’er be your lot, But what are you doing at present With the dollar and a quarter you’ve got?—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION I’m ashamed to admit there have been times in my life when I said to God, “Lord, you can trust me with riches. I’ll be the best giver ever, Lord, honest!” God, in His infinite wisdom, has known better than to answer that prayer, one I suspect many Christians have prayed or at least considered at one time or another—especially in the checkout line of the supermarket with the Lotto machine only a few feet away. But God has asked me and you to be faithful with what He has given us, the “dollar and a quarter” we’ve got.

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JUNE 27 “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”—Luke 17:3-4 At times one hesitates to reprove or admonish evildoers, either because one seeks a more favorable moment or fears his rebuke might make them worse, and further, discourage weak brethren from seeking to lead a good and holy life, or turn them aside from the faith. In such circumstances forbearance is not prompted by selfish considerations but by well-advised charity. What is reprehensible, however, is that while leading good lives themselves and abhorring those of wicked men, some, fearing to offend, shut their eyes to evil deeds instead of condemning them and pointing out their malice. To be sure, the motive behind their malice is that they may suffer no hurt in the possession of those temporal goods which virtuous and blameless men may lawfully enjoy; still there is more self-seeking here than becomes men who are mere sojourners in this world who profess the hope of a home in heaven.—Augustine of Hippo WWJD? REFLECTION It’s always easier to overlook sin than to confront it. And often, we are to overlook it. But few Christians seem to know how to give a fellow Christian a rebuke, when it’s what they desperately need. Jesus frequently rebuked His disciples; at one point He ascribed the motives of Peter to Satan by telling him harshly, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23).

Sometimes we’re also called to challenge evil in our society—to speak out against the sins of our culture. As we do, we raise the awareness of how we’ve gone wrong as a society. In either case, with brothers and sisters in Christ or with society, we need to be willing to roll up our sleeves and be part of the solution. Otherwise our rebukes will be the clanging cymbal of self-righteousness.

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JUNE 28 We live by faith, not by sight.—2 Corinthians 5:7 The natural mind is ever prone to reason, when we ought to believe; and to be at work, when we ought to be quiet; to go on our own way, when we ought steadily to walk on in God’s ways, however trying to nature.

—George Mueller WWJD? REFLECTION All who would ask “What Would Jesus Do?” must walk not by what they see, but by faith. Sometimes when we do what Jesus would do, we don’t see immediate results and get discouraged. At such times we need to remember that we’re planting seeds for a harvest and we must allow time for watering, weeding, and growth.

Faith, not sight, reaps the harvest.

JUNE 29 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.—Ephesians 1:4 Do you think God made a mistake in your life? If instead of being a poor man you had been rich, if instead of being a lone woman you had had one to call you wife and little children to clutch your dress and call you mother, if instead of being tied to the office stool you had been a minister or missionary, you think that you would have been a better, sweeter character. But I want you to understand that God chose for you your lot in life out of myriads that were open to Him, because just where you are you might realize your noblest possibilities.—F. B. Meyer WWJD? REFLECTION It’s easy to imagine what might have been, if only….

I learned some time ago that any sentences that form in my brain beginning with “if only” or “what if” are usually from the enemy. The former bring

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regret about the past or my present situation. The latter bring worry about the future. Where I am now is where God wants me to be. Where I am now is where I can do what Jesus would do.

JUNE 30 Do not cause anyone to stumble.—1 Corinthians 10:32 Take heed to your actions—there are many eyes upon you. There will be many to observe if you fall. If you miscarry, the world will also echo with it. It is the same as the eclipses of the sun in broad daylight—they are seldom without witnesses.—Richard Baxter WWJD? REFLECTION The eyes of all are upon us—many of whom may be nonChristians who almost hope we err; thus their rejection of Christianity is justified. The eyes of our families are upon us. If we would win them (and often our own families are the hardest to win), we must never give them cause to stumble. We need to take stock: is there something in our lives that is an obstacle to others?

Then away with it.

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JULY JULY 1 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.—2 Timothy 1:7 We live in a culture that does not value concentration. Distraction is the order of the day. Many will, for example, go through all the activities of the day and evening with the radio on. Some will read a book and watch TV at the same time. Most people find it virtually impossible to go through an entire day focusing on a single thing. We are the lesser for this dissipation of our energies.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION If we will set our hearts on doing what Jesus would do, we’ll find many of our most time-consuming pastimes will fall away. Our energies will be restored, instaed of being dissipated by the many constant distractions available. We’ll begin to once again enjoy peace and quiet.

For a while we may go through a sort of withdrawal. There may be a struggle to keep our mind from wool gathering or wandering. But if we practice shutting ourselves up to God, without distraction, we’ll find refreshment.

JULY 2 For they were faithful in consecrating themselves.

—2 Chronicles 31:18 It does not take great Christians to do great things; it only takes consecrated Christians.—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION “Consecration” and “sanctification” are synonyms that mean “to be set apart.” God sanctifies or sets apart Christians for His work. To be successful at doing what Jesus would do, we must realize that God has thus set us apart for Himself. Think about what it means to be separated for God’s use in your particular circumstances.

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JULY 3 “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.”—Luke 6:30 Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live…. The noblest thing a man can do is, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give.—David Livingstone WWJD? REFLECTION Living the life that asks “What Would Jesus Do?” is counter to the way the world thinks. It’s natural to believe that receiving is more important that giving, that acquiring goods is more important than decreasing our possessions. Many will think us “mad” for a faith that they may label unrealistic. But then Jesus was accused of madness of the worst kind—demon-possession. The irony of course is that what unbelievers perceive as madness is actually the best of all possible mental health.

JULY 4 “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”

—Leviticus 25:10 The Declaration of Independence states that the Creator gave humans the right to liberty. It seems humans can realize that liberty only if they do not forget the One who endowed them with it. Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny!—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION The “What Would Jesus Do?” lifestyle has national implications. Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness [WWJD? in its purest form] exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” If all inhabitants of

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any country were to obey the simple WWJD? precept of doing unto their neighbor what they would have done to themselves, that nation would transform overnight.

May God bring such transformation to many countries.

JULY 5 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.—James 5:16 Christianity isn’t worth a snap of our fingers if it doesn’t straighten out your character. I have gotten tired of all mere gush and sentiment. If people can’t tell when you are telling the truth, there is something radically wrong, and you had better straighten it out right away. Bring yourself to do it whether you want to or not. Do you know someone who has been offended by something you have done? Go straight to the person and tell them you are sorry. I have had to do it a good many times. An impulsive man like myself has to do it often, but I sleep all the sweeter at night when I get things straightened out. Confession never fails to bring a blessing.

—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION Restitution (righting wrongs for which we have responsibility) is an important principle for those who would do what Jesus would do. Jesus admonished His disciples that before they approach God they must make sure they have no unconfessed sin against anyone. The Apostle Paul forbade anyone with unconfessed sin to partake of the Lord’s Supper.

Is there someone with whom you should make things right? Do it today.

JULY 6 For sin shall not be your master.—Romans 6:14

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Do you know that oftentimes a root has split a rock, when suffered to remain in it? Give no lodgement to the seed of evil, seeing that it will break up your faith.—Cyril of Jerusalem WWJD? REFLECTION Satan’s strategy regarding sin is to just get his foot in the door as a wedge. From there, he knows he can widen that wedge until he has created a “stronghold.” Ed Silvoso in his book That None Should Perish defines a stronghold as “a mind-set impregnated with hopelessness that causes the believer to accept as unchangeable something he or she knows is contrary to the will of God.”

Is there a stronghold in your life that weakens your ability to do what Jesus would do? The way of deliverance is to shut the door once and for all on that sin, accept full forgiveness for past offenses, and claim Christ’s victory for future temptations. Then, allow no more wedges, no more of Satan’s foot in the door, no more “little sins,” no more compromise. Confess, receive pardon, and resist Satan’s attempt to wedge his way into your life.

JULY 7 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.—Hebrews 4:15 Sympathy is the rarest of all ministries, and also the sweetest. It makes no show in the world, but it leaves its mark.—Edward Dennett WWJD? REFLECTION To do what Jesus would do, we must be sympathizers. Jesus was highly sympathetic to the needy and the hurting. His followers then must have tender hearts.

Although telling those in pain that God loves them is certainly true, it’s sometimes more meaningful at that moment for them to know that you love them. God created us as ambassadors of His love. Whenever you are comforting a person, Christ is there also.

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JULY 8 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.—Luke 2:19 Reflection is in many ways a lost art. It is an eyepiece to a world hidden away, the world within ourselves which is alive with truths and beauties and darkness we have never glimpsed. It seems sad that we slice our time too thin for dreaming long dreams and thinking long thoughts. We’ve grown uncomfortable with that sort of thing. For a long time I had been uneasy left alone. I would snap on the television or grab a book or make brownies. Anything. I suppose we are restless all alone with ourselves, all alone in a room with a stranger. What if we face ourselves and find we don’t like the person we meet? I didn’t even want to spend much time in prayer because God might confront me and I’d have to look at myself.

—Sue Monk Kidd WWJD? REFLECTION Those who have been Christians for a while should have had personal encounters with God that they treasure in their heart and, like Mary, ponder them with some regularity. Take time today and reflect on the goodness of God to you. Be specific. Thank Him for the many treasured memories. And as God brings new experiences your way, make a conscious effort to store them in your heart.

JULY 9 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything.—1 Corinthians 6:12 If we feel that any habit or pursuit, harmless in itself, is keeping us from God and sinking us deeper in the things of earth; if we find that things which others can do with impunity are for us the occasion of falling, then

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abstinence is our only course. Abstinence alone can recover for us the real value of what should have been for our help but which has been an occasion of falling…. It is necessary that we should steadily resolve to give up anything that comes between ourselves and God.—W. R. Inge WWJD? REFLECTION I know of a Christian who felt like he couldn’t, in good conscience, participate in an activity enjoyed by other Christians. The activity in question wasn’t sinful; it was in fact rather tame. Still, this person felt constrained not to take part. The word he felt God gave him was simply this: “Others may, you may not.” No other explanation from the Lord was forthcoming. No other explanation was needed.

This Christian understood that from certain seemingly harmless activities some people simply have to abstain. Perhaps Jesus too abstained from perfectly fine activities—He certainly didn’t marry, for instance, nor do we hear Him offer much in the way of humor. His mission was to be a “man of sorrows,” and to fulfill that mission meant that He wasn’t as given to levity as others might be. Is there a legitimate activity that for unknown reasons you simply feel a cloud come over you as you do it? The answer may be that you must abstain from this activity in obedience to the Lord.

JULY 10 Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.—Psalm 54:4 When you have no helpers, see all your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God; when you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION Do you sometimes wish that others had the same commitment to getting something done that you do? Do such feelings cause you to grumble and complain? Remember the disciples of Jesus and how often they let Him down? They often didn’t understand what He was doing. They couldn’t

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stay awake for prayer, Peter denied the Lord, Thomas doubted—and yet Jesus remained faithful to them. He was able to do so, because His first priority was the mission God had given Him.

If God has given you a work to do, you may ask God to supply others who can help, but press on in obedience, even in the absence of helpers.

JULY 11 Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.—1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Only fix even the smallest amount you purpose to give of your income, and give this regularly; and as God is pleased to increase your light and grace, and is pleased to prosper you more, so give more. If you neglect an habitual giving, a regular giving, a giving principle based upon scriptural grounds, and leave it only to feeling and impulse, or particular arousing circumstances, you will certainly be a loser.—George Mueller WWJD? REFLECTION When George Mueller began his ministry in the early nineteenth century, he learned faithfulness in money matters quickly. As a pastor he refused a salary, relying entirely on God to supply his needs through His people. As Mueller expanded his ministry to include orphanages where he eventually housed, fed, and educated more than two thousand children in five buildings, he continued to rely on prayer for the needs of his ministry. God never failed him. Mueller was a pioneer “What Would Jesus Do?” Christian who proved that his God was big enough to supply all his needs.

JULY 12 Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

—Philippians 4:8

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I have found silence to be a powerful element in prayer. To learn to be alone with God even in the presence of others is something we Christians should try to do. There are innumerable times during the day when we can turn our thoughts, even for a moment, from business affairs and center them on God’s goodness, Christ’s love, our fellow man’s needs.—J. C. Penney WWJD? REFLECTION You may have never realized that the local J. C. Penney store where you shop was founded by a Christian businessman who, in essence, was also a man who asked “What Would Jesus Do?” His first department store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, was called “Golden Rule,” after his philosophy of treating the customer as he would want to be treated. Penney was also a man of deep prayer—and God used this man as a witness to many through the several books Penney wrote about his Christian philosophy.

God uses those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” in all walks of life—whether as students, parents, politicians, or, like James Cash Penney, businessmen.

JULY 13 “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”—Matthew 5:42 Man should not consider his outward possessions as his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.

—Thomas Aquinas WWJD? REFLECTION We are stewards of what God entrusts to us. To see others in need of what we may have and not respond is to deny our commitment to asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

Hold your possessions loosely, for they are only lent to you from the Lord.

JULY 14 “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”—John 12:32

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Christ built no church, wrote no book, left no money, and erected no monuments; yet show me ten square miles in the whole earth without Christianity, where the life of man and the purity of women are respected and I will give up Christianity.—Henry Drummond WWJD? REFLECTION Christianity is a positive influence for good, wherever it takes root. Christ Himself has a positive effect on all who follow Him. If lifted up, He draws to Himself. Those of us who daily ask “What Would Jesus Do?” are not negative people, nor is the “WWJD?” question a negative force—it’s the most positive force on the planet.

JULY 15 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”—John 18:36 The grand difficulty is to feel the reality of both worlds, so as to give each its due place in our thoughts and feelings, to keep our mind’s eye and our heart’s eye ever fixed on the Land of Promise, without looking away from the road we are to travel toward it.—Augustus Hare WWJD? REFLECTION If our roots are in heaven, our branches will affect earth. But if our roots are in this earth, our influence will last only as long as we breathe. We are citizens of one world, heaven, and travelers in another, earth.

Never confuse the two.

JULY 16 “Remember Lot’s wife!”—Luke 17:32 What I was as an artist seemed of some importance to me while I lived; but what I was as a believer in Jesus Christ is the only thing of importance to me now.—Tomb of sculptor James Bacon, Westminster Abbey

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WWJD? REFLECTION When we’re young, many things seem important to us that, in later years, we realize were merely mirages. Lot’s wife became attached to something very temporal—and ultimately meaningless.

One indication of how quickly we are advancing as Christians is to ask how many such mirages we experience before we’re convinced of what’s really important.

JULY 17 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing!—Isaiah 52:11 A great many people say, you must hear both sides; but if a man should write me a most slanderous letter about my wife, I don’t think I would have to read it; I would tear it up and throw it to the winds. Have I to read all the infidel books that are written, to hear both sides? Have I to take up a book that is a slander on my Lord and Master, who has redeemed me with His blood? Ten thousand times no! I will not touch it.

—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION It’s one of Satan’s lies that we must be “open-minded” about our spiritual beliefs. But no, a Christian whose faith is founded on solid rock has no reason to test out the sand around him. Don’t open yourself to the influence of evil in any form. Jesus stood firm against every strategy of the enemy. So must we.

JULY 18 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.—1 John 2:6 It is easy to follow a person’s footprints if we walk close behind him, but if we walk some distance back, we might fail to see them as clearly. Simi-

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larly, if we follow close after the Lord, we would easily see the footsteps along the way, but if we try to follow afar off, we would find it difficult to know the path of His will.—Andrew Bonar WWJD? REFLECTION We will be only as successful at living out “What Would Jesus Do?” as we are walking in His footsteps. If we trail behind, we won’t see the way.

Stay near to Him today. Watch and listen.

JULY 19 “Go now and leave your life of sin.”—John 8:11 True repentance shows itself in eager care not to offend again. This care prompts the sinner to go back on his past life and discover how it was that he came to sin and avoid the cause.—F. B. Meyer WWJD? REFLECTION Paul told Timothy to “flee the evil desires of youth” (2 Timothy 2:22). We all must know our enemy and flee when he seeks to entrap us. Look over your life and see what sin God has delivered you from that seeks to reensnare you. We have been called out from our sin. We must not return.

JULY 20 If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised.—1 Peter 4:11 We serve a gentle and merciful Lord who expects nothing from us beyond our strength.—John Chrysostom WWJD? REFLECTION There is immense joy in knowing that nothing is required of us that His strength will not supply. His burden is easy, His yoke is light. Rest in Christ today. Do what He would do with the supernatural strength He provides.

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JULY 21 I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.—Proverbs 8:12, KJV God is going to reveal to us things He never revealed before if we put our hands in His. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed to me. I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be hopeless….

Only alone can I draw close enough to God discover His secrets. —George Washington Carver WWJD? REFLECTION When Carver first began his research, he asked God to show him the secret of the universe. God told him that he was asking for too much for his human mind to grasp. Carver then asked for the secret of why humankind was created. Again God said that Carver was asking for more than he could understand. Finally, Carver asked God for the secret of the peanut. God narrowed Carver again, saying, “What do you want to know about the peanut?” Carver says he then asked God, “Mr. Creator, can I make milk out of the peanut?”

Carver says God then “taught me to take the peanut apart and put it together again. And out of the process have come forth all [sorts of] products!” Our ambitions cause us to set our sights on tasks greater than our gifts. Carver wisely took on what was in some ways a very narrow focus. But he was a genius in learning all he could about that one thing that God had given him the ability to discover. Narrow yourself today. Seek the small opening that leads to a larger room.

JULY 22 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”—Luke 22:42

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It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking to do the thing which we have to do, that makes life blessed.—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe WWJD? REFLECTION Are we committed enough in asking “What Would Jesus Do?” that we can lay aside our preferences to do what He would have us do—and like it?

Let your wants be replaced by His wants.

JULY 23 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion.—Amos 6:1 We only lose our way when we lose our aim.—François Fénelon WWJD? REFLECTION We are God’s weapons. We’re like arrows God wants to shoot at a specific target. When we learn to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” we find ourselves aimed squarely at the bull’s-eye. When we lose our aim, we lose our way. One cause for losing our aim is complacency—a lulling to sleep, a settling in.

Be alert. Re-aim. The years ahead are planned by God for great victories. Don’t allow the dry rot of complacency to set in. Never believe that your best years are behind you. And remember tomorrow’s victories are rooted in the way you live today.

JULY 24 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.—2 Corinthians 3:2 There are people in the world around us who never open, who never read [the Bible]. But they are reading us. Are they able to see God in our lives? Are they able to say of us to others, “That man—or that woman—reminds me of Christ”? Do we let our light so shine that men may see, not us, but our Father, our Saviour in us; and glorify, not us, but our Father in heaven? This is the real test.—W. H. Griffith Thomas

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WWJD? REFLECTION God doesn’t want to negate our unique personality, but to enhance it by His Spirit working in us. By so doing, He’s writing a love letter to the world on the pages of your life. Every deed done in answer to asking “What Would Jesus Do?” writes a new paragraph, read by those who enjoy reading a good book—the book being you.

JULY 25 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.—1 Corinthians 2:2 If I had three hundred men who feared nothing but God, and hated nothing but sin, and were determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I would set the world on fire.—John Wesley WWJD? REFLECTION Today, there are tens of thousands of Christians asking “What Would Jesus Do?” Tens of thousands! Can you imagine the impact tens of thousands can have?

Today, in light of Wesley’s words, pray for others who are asking that allimportant question. Believe God that they will have an impact in their community—all the while remembering that they’re praying for you and your community.

JULY 26 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.”—Genesis 7:1 My business is, with all my might to serve my own generation; in doing so I shall best serve the next generation, should the Lord tarry.

—George Mueller WWJD? REFLECTION The mission of the church is ongoing. It’s a mistake to think that everyone in our nation has heard about Christ—they haven’t.

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Evangelism will not cease until the Lord returns. But because we’ve heard and believed the good news about Christ, we feel compelled to give back. One way of giving back is looking ahead—to the next generation.

George Mueller said that serving his own generation was the best way he could serve the younger generation. It’s because Charles Sheldon sent the “WWJD?” message to coming generations with his 1896 best-seller, In His Steps, that you’re reading this devotional. Another wise man has said, “Our children are messengers we send into a future we may not see.” The way the coming generation sees us behave is the message we’re sending ahead for those who live in the future. Wouldn’t it be nice to send the message of asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

JULY 27 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

—Philippians 4:11 To be out of harmony with the things, acts, and events, which God in His providence has seen fit to array around us—that is to say, not to meet them in a humble, believing, and thankful spirit—is to turn from God. And, on the other hand, to see in them the developments of God’s presence, and of the divine will, and to accept that will, is to turn in the opposite direction, and to be in union with Him.—Thomas C. Upham WWJD? REFLECTION What if your present station in life never changes—could you be happy? You could if you grasp that happiness doesn’t depend on circumstances. Embrace your present state and yet look for the Lord to move you on, purposing that your contentment is not dependent on whatever He brings, but on Him.

JULY 28 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

—2 Chronicles 16:9

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There is a kind of eagerness about the beneficence of God. He does not wait for us to come to him. He seeks us out, because it is his good pleasure to do us good. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is whole toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). God is not waiting for us, he is pursuing us. That, in fact, is the literal translation of Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” I have never forgotten how a great teacher once explained it to me. He said God is like a highway patrolman pursuing you down the interstate with lights flashing and siren blaring to get you to stop—not to give you a ticket, but to give you a message so good it couldn’t wait until you get home.—John Piper WWJD? REFLECTION Today, picture God behind you everywhere you go, in hot pursuit, not to “give you a ticket,” but to bring “goodness and mercy” to you.

Look! Even now, He is just behind you, ready to overtake you with His love.

JULY 29 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.—Colossians 1:13 The cross of Christ is the great divide. It makes a clean-cut cleavage between the sphere of darkness and death and the sphere of light and life. It is the boundary line between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. It calls subjects out of the one kingdom into the other and compels the sinner to make a choice.—Ruth Paxson WWJD? REFLECTION One trouble many Christians have is that they lose their sense of the “clean-cut cleavage between the sphere of darkness and death and the sphere of light and life.” They become spiritually gray. Jesus, however, never spoke about grayness. In fact He instructed us to let our “yes” be “yes,” and our “no” to be “no.”

Today, realize that you are no longer under the cloud of darkness and death; today you are a part of light and life. Realizing this will make asking “What Would Jesus Do?” much easier.

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JULY 30 “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

—Matthew 17:20 To believe is to be strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power.

—F. W. Robertson WWJD? REFLECTION What the world needs today is strong Christians. “What Would Jesus Do?” is in fact for those who would be strong Christians. By your faith you have great, great power.

Wield it wisely.

JULY 31 We love because he first loved us.—1 John 4:19 You have loved us first, O God, alas! We speak of it in terms of history as if You loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing You have loved us first many times and everyday and our whole life through. When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You—You were there first—You have loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at that same second turn my soul toward You in prayer, You are there ahead of me, You have loved me first. When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul toward You, You are there first and thus forever. And we speak ungratefully as if You have loved first only once.

—Søren Kierkegaard WWJD? REFLECTION God is always there first, preceding our arrival. He is there drawing us before we are Christians, He is there waiting for us in our prayer closet. He is there awaiting our arrival in eternity. Doesn’t this awesome, eager, hungering love of God cause you to drop to your knees in thanks-giving?

Doesn’t it make you want to do exactly what Jesus would do?

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AUGUST AUGUST 1 “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer.”—1 Peter 3:12 It may seem a little old-fashioned always to begin one’s work with a prayer: but I never undertake a hymn without first asking the good Lord to be my inspiration in the work I am about to do.—Fanny Crosby WWJD? REFLECTION Fanny Crosby was one of the church’s most prolific and talented hymnists, writing thousands of hymns over the course of sixty years. Some of her best-known works include “Blessed Assurance,”“Sweet Hour of Prayer,”“To God Be the Glory,” and “Praise Him, Praise Him.” The value of her asking God to be her inspiration as she begins her work is a lesson in creativity for those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?”

Submit your creative gifts to God. Ask Him to use your abilities in new ways. Know that when you create, you are imitating God. May the result be obvious to all who see.

AUGUST 2 “Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”—John 15:13-14 The Christian life is preeminently a life of friendship. It is individual in its root and social in its fruits. It is when two or three are gathered together that Christianity becomes a fact for the world. The joy of Christ will not be hid and buried in a man’s own heart. “Come, see a man that told me all that ever I did,” is the natural outcome of the first wonder of the first faith. It spreads from soul to soul by the impact of soul on soul, from the original impact of the great soul of God.—Hugh Black WWJD? REFLECTION How is it with you and your friends? Are you bound to them by the bands of common love for Christ? Or are your friends waiting for you to say to them, “Come, see a man that told me all that ever I did”?

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Pray for your friends today, by name. If they are Christians, encourage them. If they aren’t Christians, is there a way you can introduce them to the best Friend of all? True deep friendship will find its deepest fulfillment in a shared experience with the common Friend of Jesus Christ.

AUGUST 3 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

—Matthew 7:12 Be such a person, and live such a life, that if everyone were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God’s Paradise.—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION Imagine being able to sum up all the Old Testament teaching with the simple words “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” This is “What Would Jesus Do?” in a nutshell. If we practice this daily without regard to what others do in return, we’ll find that our faith is contagious.

Today, go out and infect somebody with the “WWJD?” virus.

AUGUST 4 “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”—Luke 17:33 Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION A number of years ago I, along with several million others, read Hal Lindsay’s best-selling book on Bible prophecy, The Late Great Planet Earth. Shortly thereafter I had the privilege of hearing Corrie Ten Boom speak. Her message on end times, coming right on the heels of the

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Lindsay book, left me with a picture of the future that at once seemed exciting, but also tinged with apprehension. I began to feel that, depending on the accuracy of what I read and heard, I might not have much of a future to prepare for. It was my mistake to interpret these messages in a way that paralyzed me for a while, when I should have gone on and put my hand to the plow doing what Jesus would do and not setting my hopes on speculation, no matter how convincing it sounded.

Now, years later, I still believe the return of the Lord is near, but now I also work optimistically with my eyes not on predictions about the future, but on Him who holds the future. That’s the only way to be prepared at His coming—to be about His business daily.

AUGUST 5 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

—1 John 3:16 Always holding someone up.—Caption, Time magazine story about the drowning of Daws Trotman WWJD? REFLECTION Daws Trotman was the founder of the Navigators, an organization used to win and disciple many new Christians. In July 1956, Trotman, fifty, drowned in Schroon Lake, New York, as he held above the water a young girl who had fallen from a motorboat. She was saved, but he drowned. To the natural eye it might seem a shame that this one talented man whom God was using to influence many should give his life for one. And yet, that’s just what Christianity is. Jesus gave His life for one—me,…you,…our neighbor. If only one person had needed saving, Jesus Christ would have done exactly what He did. In that light, the death of Daws Trotman has meaning.

It then becomes a privilege that God would allow a choice servant entrance to heaven via saving another person’s life, thus demonstrating to the very end what asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is all about.

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AUGUST 6 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

—Luke 5:16 If ever I go among men, I come back less of a man.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION When we are often with other people and seldom alone with the Lord, our spiritual life takes on the dull flavor of this earth. To be alone with our Father in heaven will give us the flavor of heaven. Then as we’re among others, we’ll find the flavor of heaven in doing what Jesus would do.

AUGUST 7 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”—Matthew 12:30 One man with God is always in the majority.—John Knox WWJD? REFLECTION Sometimes when we find ourselves alone as Christians, surrounded by those who don’t share our faith, there’s a pressure to conform to the majority. We’ve all been there. The gang wants to do something that’s definitely not something Jesus would do. Do we go along or do we remember whom we serve?

If we’re doing what Jesus would do, we’re in God’s majority. It may well be that the result will be fewer of our old companions at our side. However, the company of the One companion compensates for all else. It may not always be easy to do what Jesus would do, but it’s worth the cost.

AUGUST 8 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.—Proverbs 25:28

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To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty.—Justin Martyr WWJD? REFLECTION Lack of self-control is a problem common to many Christians. Giving in to the impulses of the moment take a toll, both spiritually and physically. Without self-control, how can one practice asking “What Would Jesus Do?”? In Galatians 5:22, Paul lists self-control as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. As we depend on Him, we should be gaining control over our unruly selves.

AUGUST 9 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”—Luke 12:15 Our desires always increase with our possessions. The knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.—Samuel Johnson WWJD? REFLECTION When I was in my early teens, I was positive the day would never come when I would be sixteen and eligible to drive a car. Then, at sixteen, I wanted to own a car, and I wanted to go to college. In college, I wanted to fall in love with a girl, get married, and be a dad. But every time I attained one of my goals, it wasn’t enough to satisfy. My goals were, and are, good goals—but my joy mustn’t depend on what I have yet to attain, because we quickly find that what we have yet to possess is a bottomless well. As long as Madison Avenue knows which of our buttons to push, there will always be something new enticing us.

At every stage Jesus was content with what the Father had provided. So must we be.

AUGUST 10 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.

—Ephesians 6:7

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Here lies the body of John Smith, who for forty years cobbled shoes in this village to the glory of God.—Epitaph in an English graveyard WWJD? REFLECTION Every so often I wander over to a local cemetery. I read a few headstones and wonder about these people—what their lives were like, where they are now—that sort of thing. I remember once seeing the tomb of a local department store owner. While he was alive he was quite the man-about-town. Everyone knew him; he was active in many organizations. He had a yacht anchored in San Francisco Bay. But today, his yachting days are over. His department store is now a mini-mall. He is no more of interest to this world than the cobbler John Smith. But John Smith is with the Lord for eternity. I don’t know about the department store owner. He never seemed interested in spiritual things while alive.

Have you ever thought what your epitaph will be? Will you be content if, like the cobbler John Smith, your tombstone reflects what the world would consider a rather dull life? What if only your name and the dates of your birth and death appear on your headstone? If you live for Christ, doing what He would do, then it will be enough.

AUGUST 11 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.—Psalm 63:4 The Bible is full of what could be called body prayer: Moses praying with his arms raised high as the Israelites battle the Amalekites; Elisha praying life back into the Shunammite boy as he lay on top of him; David dancing before the Lord as the Ark is carried into the Holy City; Jesus laying His hands on multitudes of people; John falling prostrate before the glorified Christ while on Patmos…

The most frequent prayer posture in the Bible is complete prostration with the hands stretched out. The second most common posture is with the hands lifted and the palms up. The posture to which we are most accustomed—the hands folded and the eyes closed—is found nowhere in Scripture. This does not make the first two postures appropriate and the

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third inappropriate, but it should free us to use whatever body language is appropriate to the prayer experience we are entering into.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION Consider your body as an instrument of praise. Feel at ease lifting your hands to God in praise. Though prayer can be practiced at any time, in any position, try kneeling on occasion. One popular posture for prayer in the Old Testament, still practiced by many Christians, is kneeling with the face down on the ground in total humility. Laying flat, prostrate, is also a frequently used position in prayer. Don’t be self-conscious about trying some of these practices of prayer that may be new to you. Lowliness in body is an outward expression of an inward humility.

AUGUST 12 “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”

—Mark 12:17 For the Christian to reason that God does not want him involved in politics because there are too many evil men in government is as insensitive as for a Christian doctor to turn his back on an epidemic because there are too many germs there.—Mark Hatfield WWJD? REFLECTION Can a Christian carry his “What Would Jesus Do?” philosophy into politics? Mark Hatfield did. He was a U.S. Senator from the state of Oregon for many years. Other Christians (Jimmy Carter, J. C. Watts, Jim Ryun) have also felt compelled by God to serve their communities as elected representatives. As the Apostle Paul closes his letter to the Romans, he passes along the greetings of a government official, “Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works” (Romans 16:24).

Political life is rampant with opportunities for corruption. But isn’t this then a prime place for a Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” to serve? Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

—Romans 5:20, KJV

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AUGUST 13 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies.—Psalm 143:12 When God contemplates some great work, He begins it by the hand of some poor, weak, human creature, to whom He afterwards gives aid, so that the enemies who seek to obstruct it are overcome.—Martin Luther WWJD? REFLECTION Don’s worry about your detractors or “enemies.” If you keep your eye on them, your eye can’t be singly for the Lord.

As for your weaknesses, rejoice! God has chosen to work His life through you, as you do what Jesus would do, because of your weaknesses, that in the end, your enemies will be silenced and He will be praised.

AUGUST 14 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

—John 6:12 When the great miracle of the loaves had been wrought, Jesus sent his disciples to gather up the broken pieces, “that nothing may be lost.” The Master is continually giving us the same command. Every hour’s talk we have with a friend leaves fragments that we ought to gather up and keep to feed our heart’s hunger or the hunger of others’ hearts, as we go on. When we hear good words spoken or read a good book, we should gather up the fragments of knowledge, the suggestions or helpful thoughts, the broken pieces, and fix them in our hearts for use in our lives. We allow most of what we hear or read to turn to waste continually because we are poor listeners or do not try to keep what we hear. We let the broken pieces be lost and thus are great losers. If only we would gather up and keep all the good things that come to us through conversations and through reading, we would soon have great treasures of knowledge and wisdom.

—J. R. Miller

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WWJD? REFLECTION Don’t let the good that comes to you today go by unnoticed. Slow down enough to savor the day and the Lord as well. Let nothing that comes your way today be lost or wasted—except the enemy’s attempts to distract you.

AUGUST 15 “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”

—Joshua 24:15 In awakening to God there is always a moment of choice, a time to say an absolute yes, to commit yourself as best you can to the life of God that is kindled inside you. The experience demands it. And there will likely be a need for a reaffirmation of that choice numerous times as we awaken to God. We are spasmodic, fickle creatures who must be brought back again and again to our journey.—Sue Monk Kidd WWJD? REFLECTION Each day we must choose to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” anew. By making this choice a daily habit, it becomes a lifestyle. Today, if doing what Jesus would do has been moving you along in your spiritual life, take a moment and pray a “yes” to God, reaffirming your choice to live His life.

AUGUST 16 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”—John 4:24 The person who does not habitually worship is but a pair of spectacles behind which there is no eye.—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION What was it that Satan wanted from Jesus when he tempted Him? In Matthew 4, it says, “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’” (vv. 8-9). Satan wanted worship—especially from Jesus. So much so that he

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offered him quite a temptation—all the kingdoms of the world in their splendor. Jesus replied, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (v.10). Jesus refused the worship of Satan, turning instead to the worship of the Lord. Worship is why God created us.

Take a few minutes today and worship your Father. Ask for nothing. Simply worship.

AUGUST 17 “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

—John 5:39 The true Bible is not the dead book, but the living reality, developed by the Spirit of God in the conscience of mankind. It is not a printed thing. The printed thing is the memorial of it, a souvenir of it, a mere chart; and a chart is not the ocean.—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION I’ve heard about people who claim to have memorized the whole Bible. It’s quite a feat, to be sure. But we must remember—the Bible is given to testify about Christ. We can read and memorize the book and still not come to know the author. When you read the Bible, remember that what you’re reading is no good to you if you don’t allow the words to point you to the Author.

AUGUST 18 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

—Matthew 5:48 It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defect of others.—François Fénelon

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WWJD? REFLECTION Do we all agree that Jesus was perfect; sinless? Then in our attempts at doing what Jesus would do we must keep in mind this perfection. Of course, we fall far short of perfection, and each time we do, it serves as a reminder that we need a Savior.

Similarly, when we read the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 13:11, “Aim for perfection,” we’re reminded of our target.

AUGUST 19 These men are grumblers and faultfinders…—Jude 16 The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities.

—John Wesley WWJD? REFLECTION Why is it that the longer we live, the more tolerant we become? Maybe it’s because the longer we know ourselves, the better we know ourselves—and our failings.

Maturity is marked by the ability to overlook the misdeeds of others, especially those misdeeds directed toward us. Let’s take a leap towards maturity today by looking at the faults of others through the eyes of Jesus.

AUGUST 20 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.—Romans 1:16 I reckon him a Christian indeed who is not ashamed of the Gospel, nor a shame to it.—Matthew Henry WWJD? REFLECTION Many of us have been in situations where we could easily have spoken a word on the Lord’s behalf, but our mouths were silent. Were we embarrassed to speak for the Lord?

Granted, sometimes it genuinely isn’t the right time or place to speak. Remember Jesus purposely didn’t answer direct questions put to Him by Pilate.

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It’s also hard to imagine that Jesus spoke to every single person He met. Still, we must never remain silent because we are ashamed of the gospel. The best solution, when we know we’re to speak, is to press through that fear barrier and speak what’s on our heart without intimidation, anger, or self-righteousness. But above all, never be embarrassed for the Lord. It’s impossible to be a Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” if we’re ashamed of our Lord.

AUGUST 21 I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

—I Timothy 1:16 God’s patience is infinite. Men, like small kettles, boil quickly with anger at the least offense. Not so God. If God were as wrathful, the world would have been a heap of ruins long ago.—Sadhu Sundar Singh WWJD? REFLECTION In living the life that asks “What Would Jesus Do?” we’ll be given many opportunities to express the patience of Christ. Such an occasion may happen today.

As we meet challenges to our patience in the next twenty-four hours, let’s arm ourselves ahead of time so that, like kettles, we don’t boil over at the slightest offense. The best way to be prepared is to have a good understanding of how longsuffering God is with us and our many failings. The answer, according to the Apostle Paul, is that His patience is “unlimited.”. This then is the attitude we must have.

AUGUST 22 …worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

—1 Chronicles 16:29b

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He who sees the beauty of holiness…sees the greatest and most important thing in the world.—Jonathan Edwards WWJD? REFLECTION Holiness has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. Largely the concept of holiness is more associated with starched collars, frowning faces and a list of things we can’t do, than for the joy that results from living a truly holy life.

Few of us understand “the beauty of holiness.” And yet, holiness is beautiful. Jesus Christ is holy…and He is beautiful to those who follow Him. Those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” must heed the words of the Apostle Peter echoing down through the centuries, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written “Be holy, because I am holy,” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Holiness: the best-kept beauty secret in the world.

AUGUST 23 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”—Isaiah 52:7 The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless. The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.—Billy Graham WWJD? REFLECTION I remember one day, during my high-school years, when I was sitting on the school bus—I can still recall exactly where the bus was at the time. I remember opening my hands and looking at my fingers and wondering to my sixteen-year-old self, “What will these hands do over the course of my lifetime? What will they touch? Will they ever hurt someone, kill someone? Will they be helping hands? Will they hold many a bottle of alcohol? Will they ever hand over money to a drug dealer?”

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Although some years have passed since then, I still trust I have many years left and more deeds for these hands to do. Even so, I shudder to think of some of the evil I’ve allowed my hands to do. But I also rejoice at the good my hands have done. God has used them sometimes in spite of me. What about your hands and feet? Where have your feet walked? What have your hands done in the way of fulfilling what Jesus would do? Hold up your hands today and look at them. Offer a prayer that God will use your hands and your feet to do what Jesus would do—for you truly are His hands and feet today.

AUGUST 24 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

—Romans 14:17 A Christian is just as much under the obligation to obey God’s will in the most secular of his daily business as he is in his closet or at the communion table. He has no right to separate his life into two realms, and acknowledge different moral codes in each….

The kingdom of God includes all sides of human life, and it is a kingdom of absolute righteousness. You are either a loyal subject or a traitor. When the king comes, how will he find you doing?—Archibald Hodge WWJD? REFLECTION There’s no such thing as the secular and the sacred to the Christian. All we do is centered in Him—whether on the job, around the house, or on the golf course. All of our life is to be unto Him. Don’t expect to practice doing what Jesus would do just when you’re about your “Christian” duties. It is in the daily routine that doing what He would do is most needed.

AUGUST 25 “Do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”—Mark 13:11

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As the minister stepped up to the pulpit he discovered to his chagrin that he had forgotten his sermon notes. As it was too late to send someone for them, he turned to the congregation and said, by way of apology, that this morning he should have to depend upon the Lord for what he might say, but that for the evening service, he would be better prepared.—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION Has God so gripped our hearts that our mouths are obedient to Him? Joy Dawson, a wonderful Bible teacher for Youth With a Mission, has said that when she was asked to teach on evangelism, she actually spent little time on the “how-to’s” of witnessing, preferring to spend most of the course time on developing the students’ love for Christ. Her reasoning? She cited Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:34, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” She rightly figured that if she could get her students’ hearts filled with the love of Christ, her lesson in evangelism would be complete.

If we would speak of God with boldness and with the right words, we must know Him intimately.

AUGUST 26 But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.—James 1:1415 Sin is first a simple suggestion, then a strong imagination, then delight, then assent.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION Christians who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” aren’t immune to temptation. When the enemy offers “a simple suggestion,” that’s the time for action. Don’t let is progress to the “strong imagination” stage or you’re doomed. Learn to instantly deflect Satan’s darts with the shield of faith.

AUGUST 27 Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.—Luke 5:10-11

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What a test would it be to every servant to put to himself the question, Am I following Him? It is not enough for me to do this or that, because others may approve, or because it is necessary or commendable in my own mind. I must, in order to be acting according to His mind, first follow Him. It is not merely that I must be converted, but I must take the same course as that which He has taken.—J. B. Stoney WWJD? REFLECTION When Abraham left his people to go to “the land I will show you,” he had no idea where he would end up. So too the Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” may end up in the most unlikely places and speaking to the most unexpected people. But that’s the way God is, always surprising us. Today, if you will consecrate your steps to the Lord, perhaps you will find yourself in an unlikely situation, all because that’s where God would have you do what Jesus would do.

AUGUST 28 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”—Matthew 9:37 To find his place and fill it is success for a man.—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION Though Jesus spoke the words in Matthew two thousand years ago, the workers are still few. Pray today for God to send more workers into His harvest field—to join us in doing the work of Jesus.

AUGUST 29 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”—John 15:11 Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.—Jim Elliot WWJD? REFLECTION Throughout the Bible God expresses His disappointment at those who are “double-minded.” Whether it’s the unfaithful steward who buried his talent rather than invest it, or the rich young ruler who wouldn’t

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follow Jesus because of his wealth, God was not pleased. And yet when Jesus talks about the Father wanting us to be joyful, and when Jim Elliot talks about living “to the hilt,” we balk. And yet to live to the fullest every experience of God is a wonderful way to share your faith. Face it, the world needs to see evidence of Christians who really know how to live life.

AUGUST 30 “Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.”

—Jeremiah 7:23 No average goodness will do, no measuring of our lives by our fellows, but only a relentless, inexorable divine standard. No relatives suffice; only absolutes satisfy the soul committed to holy obedience.—Thomas Kelly WWJD? REFLECTION The Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” will stand out in a world of relativism. Our absoluteness about living the Christian life will be unique in a world racked by doubt. If your sense of direction in life is being influenced by the world in that you’re seeing things more and more in grays, then it’s time to get back to the Word of God and a life of obedience.

AUGUST 31 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.

—Deuteronomy 15:7-8 As long as anyone has the means of doing good to his neighbors and does not do so, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord.—Irenaeus WWJD? REFLECTION “A stranger to the love of the Lord.” How cold that sounds. And yet to be close to the love of God means to be close to your neighbor and loose with your giving. Today, ask God to show you an unexpected way to bless someone you know.

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SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 1 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

—Matthew 7:21-23 The weakness of human nature has always appeared in times of great revivals of religion by a disposition to run into extremes, especially in these three things: enthusiasm, superstition, and intemperate zeal.

—Jonathan Edwards WWJD? REFLECTION Is “WWJD?” a Christian fad? In a couple of years will all this blow over and be replaced by a newer Christian trend? Maybe for some readers “WWJD?” will be simply the enthusiasm or zeal of the moment that Jonathan Edwards spoke about. Perhaps some are already on to the next craze—maybe they left us way back in February or March. But whether this “revival,” if we may call it that, lasts depends on each of us individually.

For me, it can last. For you, it can last. But the only way for that to happen is for it to bring us closer to Christ Himself. If, when we ask “What Would Jesus Do?” we’re simply role playing, then we’re open to Edwards’s charges about our religious human nature. Let’s not let that happen to us.

SEPTEMBER 2 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”—John 13:35 Through the centuries men have displayed many different symbols to show that they are Christians. They have worn [crosses] in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts.

Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of this, if one feels it is his calling. But there is a much better sign…a universal mark

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that is to last through all the ages of the church until Jesus comes back…. Love—and the unity it attests to—is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father. —Francis Schaeffer WWJD? REFLECTION If you wear “WWJD?” T-shirts, bracelets, or a cross necklace—that’s fine. But remember those are not the signs of a Christian. The message on a T-shirt means nothing unless the wearer is also donning the more Scriptural “WWJD?” apparel—love.

SEPTEMBER 3 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.—Ephesians 2:6 To me the Lord’s coming is not a question of prophecy, but my present hope…. There is no event between me and heaven.—John Nelson Darby WWJD? REFLECTION Have you come to the place where you, like Darby, can say that there is no event between you and heaven? You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. Your citizenship is in heaven, you are merely passing through this world. It’s our heavenly position in Christ that enables us to live victoriously and to do what Jesus would do.

SEPTEMBER 4 But the fruit of the spirit is…gentleness…

—Galatians 5:22-23 Nothing is so strong as gentleness: nothing so gentle as real strength.

—Francis de Sales

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WWJD? REFLECTION It’s a divine paradox that in gentleness and meekness we find the strength of God. To have this strength, we must have the fruit. To have the fruit, we must have the Spirit—for it is His fruit. Jesus said that we must abide in Him to be fruitful. Abiding requires little effort—certainly no striving. Let’s make sure our “What Would Jesus Do?” Christianity is one of abiding, not striving.

SEPTEMBER 5 …we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.—2 Corinthians 10:5b Thoughts invite us, more than words and deeds, to continue in sin, for thoughts can be concealed, while words and deeds cannot.

—Søren Kirkegaard WWJD? REFLECTION Will it do us any good if our words and deeds are perceived by others as doing what Jesus would do, while our hidden thought life is full of lust, anger, and pride?

Jesus’ deeds were not only blameless, His thought-life was pure. How often do we entertain thoughts which invite us to sin? And then, do we resist such thoughts, casting them down as quickly as they appear? Here’s a scary idea: How would we feel if our thoughts were projected on a giant screen for all to see? If such an idea makes us cringe, we must exercise our God-given ability to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Learning to control our thoughts is a giant step toward fulfilling our commitment to doing what Jesus would do.

SEPTEMBER 6 Pray continually…—1 Thessalonians 5:17

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We ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly; and imploring His assistance in our affairs, just as they happen.—Brother Lawrence WWJD? REFLECTION Brother Lawrence was an obscure seventeenth-century monk who popularized the concept of “the practice of the presence of God,” which is the title of the small book taken from his teaching. Brother Lawrence worked for thirty years in the kitchen of the small Community of the Resurrection, after which he lost his sight and died shortly thereafter. Brother Lawrence found that as he worked in the kitchen he could experience God amid the busywork that made up his duties. Read his small book for an understanding on how to pray no matter what your surroundings are.

The result will be that we too shall find ourselves doing what Jesus would do, no matter where we are.

SEPTEMBER 7 “I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.”—Acts 24:16 The joy of a good man is the witness of a good conscience; have a good conscience and you shall ever have gladness.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION If the Apostle Paul said that he strived to keep his conscience “clear before God and man,” how much more so for us? A guilty conscience undermines our attempts at doing what Jesus would do. And no amount of good works done in the name of Christ can purge even the least of sins. Forgiveness only comes through faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross.

We must never let our asking “What Would Jesus Do?” be an attempt to win God’s favor. Rather, if our conscience needs tending to, let’s take the Biblical route to restoration—repentance, confession, and forgiveness by faith.

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SEPTEMBER 8 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”—Matthew 7:24-25 Not long ago, a friend of mine who is heavily involved in the social imperatives of the gospel suggested I concentrate more on awakening to the suffering in the world rather than awakening to God’s presence. My response was that in the end, they are one and the same. Intimate communion with God brings the suffering world into focus, and breeds authentic and compassionate ministry. Once awakened in the depths of our souls to the presence of God as a way of life, we will also hear a voice that whispers, and sometimes shouts, “This is my world. Touch its wounds. Heal its injustice. Love it for Me.” Inward movement ultimately becomes outward movement, borne on a wave of God’s presence.—Sue Monk Kidd WWJD? REFLECTION If you’re having trouble fulfilling your “What Would Jesus Do?” pledge, consider whether the problem might be inward. All our doing what Jesus would do must spring from an inner conviction, confidence, and assurance that finds release through Spirit-initiated outward works. Thus the Christian life works from the inside out, not from the outside in.

SEPTEMBER 9 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!—2 Corinthians 5:17 Our world is hungry for genuinely changed people.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION Don’t subconsciously slip back into your old-creation self. If you are in Christ, God has pronounced you a new creation. It’s

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because of the new creation that we have the energy and ability to do what Jesus would do. May a hungry world be satisfied with the taste of Christ we offer them. Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

SEPTEMBER 10 The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.—Psalm 19:7 The most ignorant peasant who is a Christian possesses more real knowledge than the wisest of the ancient philosophers.—Tertullian WWJD? REFLECTION One of the most validating principles of Christianity is that it’s not necessary to be an intellectual giant to grasp it. In fact, those who are intellectually proud, the Bible teaches, are more likely to be what we might call “spiritually challenged.” Praise God for the childlike attitude required to be a Christian.

May we seek to be known not for our worldly wisdom, but for our childlike faith.

SEPTEMBER 11 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”—Matthew 12:36-37 It is a most dangerous thing to use sacred words often. It makes them so common to our ear that at full length, when used most solemnly, they have not half the effect they ought to have, and that is a serious loss.

—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION It’s no longer uncommon to hear outbursts of “Oh my God,” or even the name of Christ casually bandied about or used as an exple

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tive. There is a preciousness to the language of heaven that shouldn’t be stripped of its meaning by casual usage. Some might even wonder about the danger of trivializing the name of Jesus in “WWJD?” And such will be the case if this is merely a passing fancy with us, rather than an expression of our commitment to Christ Himself.

We must always treasure the words of the kingdom and what they stand for.

SEPTEMBER 12 For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”—Matthew 4:10 If you do not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week.—A. W. Tozer WWJD? REFLECTION Asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is a way of worshiping God all week long. The world is looking not for Sunday morning Christians, but for Monday morning Christians…and Tuesday…and Wednesday—all week long. This is the joy of the life we live in Christ. He comes with us into our ordinary lives and is a part of all we do—every day and in every place.

SEPTEMBER 13 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”

—Luke 12:4-5 The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.

—Oswald Chambers WWJD? REFLECTION Some have tried to say that to “fear God” means simply to stand in awe of Him. Yes, we should certainly do that. But Jesus taught

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that there is a sense in which it’s proper to actually fear God and what He can do. In the old days they used to refer to it as “having gotten the fear of the Lord.”

God is to be feared in every way. Though He’s our Heavenly Father who loves us beyond measure, it’s no contradiction to know that the One who loves us so is also worthy of our fear. Psalm 19:9 says very plainly “the fear of the Lord is pure.” Do we not seek purity?

SEPTEMBER 14 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.—2 Timothy 2:15 I met a lawyer in Chicago who told me he had spent two years in study upon one subject; he was trying to smash a will. He made it his business to read everything on wills he could get. Then he went into court and he talked two days about that will; he was full of it; he could not talk about anything else but wills. That is the way with the Bible: study it and study it, one subject at a time, until you become filled with it.

Read the Bible itself; do not spend all your time on commentaries and helps. If a man spent all his time reading up the chemical constituents of bread and milk, he would soon starve.—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION Every Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” should have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Don’t just snack at it as at a buffet dinner. Instead, consider it your meat and potatoes, spiritually. Eat hearty of the Word of God; study it, memorize and contemplate on large portions of it. Let it become your spiritual food. As you do, the answer to “What Would Jesus Do?” will become more of a reflex than a consideration.

SEPTEMBER 15 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

—Colossians 1:28

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We Christians are debtors to all men at all times in all places. Men are blind—we must lead them. Men are bound—we must free them. Sinful men are spiritually diseased—we must heal them. Godless men are dead—we must raise them from the dead by the Holy Spirit’s power.

But we Christians are so willingly smug to the lostness of men! We are chronically lazy and so callously indifferent! As lax, loose, lustful, and lazy Laodiceans, we are challenging God to spew us out of His mouth. God pity us, or smite us! Have we a Moses to stand in the gap if God determines to liquidate this sinning age? Would we stand idly by with smug indifference if we beheld a blind man walking to the edge of a great cliff, when we knew that his slip over the edge would mean certain death? Any person I am sure would make a brave effort to pluck that man from disaster. Why are our feet so leaden in moving to the rescue of these who move relentlessly by to the edge of eternity, and whose one step into it will seal their doom? Why is there at present amongst us this criminal indifference to the lostness of men? And criminal it is!—Leonard Ravenhill WWJD? REFLECTION Indifference to the lostness of those around us is not behavior of those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” Jesus was full of warnings to those who had ears to hear. Likewise, not everyone we speak to about Christ will have ears to hear, but if we would do what Jesus would do, we must develop a passion for the lost.

SEPTEMBER 16 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

—Genesis 1:31 Nothing evil was created by God; we ourselves have produced all the wickedness.—Tatian WWJD? REFLECTION One of the main objections non-Christians offer as an excuse for their unwillingness to believe is “Why would a good God cause so much misery and suffering?” And yet if we look around, it’s not God who causes wars, murders, drugs, broken homes. These evils issue from the hearts of

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people without God. Where the gospel is lived, these horrors decrease. If everyone would do what Jesus would do, this world would be a significantly different place.

SEPTEMBER 17 “According to the plan shown you…”—Exodus 26:30 Moving randomly through life, taking just what “comes” and however momentum leads you, is a certain pathway to ineffectiveness, disorganization, and a blurry focus. It is not God’s way.—Mike Phillips WWJD? REFLECTION God is a God of order. Many Christians float through life with no direction. But life is a stewardship from God. Stewardship requires that we learn from the past, live fully in the present, and prepare for the future—whether in this world or in eternity. Good stewards will invest wisely the years given them. That requires a degree of planning and looking ahead. Let’s ask God to show us how to become better stewards—more organized, more focused.

SEPTEMBER 18 You were taught…to put off your old self…to be made new in the attitude of your minds.—Ephesians 4:22-23 The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we do is play on the one

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string we have, and that is our attitude…. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.—Charles Swindoll WWJD? REFLECTION Asking “What Would Jesus Do?” begins with our attitude; otherwise we fail miserably. If we’re armed with the attitude of Jesus, then the actual implementation is fairly easy. The problem is that because life goes by so quickly, our decisions are often made by reaction, rather than contemplation. But if we seize the day with the right attitude, success will follow. Woe unto those of us who try to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” by rote, rather than by attitude.

SEPTEMBER 19 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.—2 Timothy 4:7 The Christian life is a marathon, not a 100-yard dash.—Howard Hendricks WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians begin in the faith with a bang, but before long all that’s left is a whimper. Jesus seeks disciples, not customers. Disciples will finish the long race. Customers are in it for the short run.

Developing a life that considers how Jesus would respond to the circumstances we face will keep us on the track. We shall be disciples, marathoners; and like Paul we shall receive “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to [us] on that day—and not only to [us], but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

SEPTEMBER 20 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.—1 Peter 1:8-9

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Are we attractive Christians? Do we give people the impression that the most marvelous thing in the world is to be a Christian and to have the Spirit of God within us? This is the thing to which we are called and the way to do that is positively to avoid grieving the Spirit, and to walk in him, to dwell in him as he dwells in us, and to be led by him in all things.

—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones WWJD? REFLECTION Inexpressible joy is the mark of the Christian who is asking “What Would Jesus Do?” Such joy can’t help but spill over. Make sure that your foundation in Christ is solid.

If so, joy must abound.

SEPTEMBER 21 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.—Psalm 141:3 No prayer should be spoken more often by us than this prayer of David. There is nothing in all of life to which most of us give less attention than to our words. We let them fly from our lips as the leaves fly from the trees when the autumn winds blow. Many people seem to think that words are not important. They watch their acts, their conduct, and then give full license to their tongues. This is not right. A true Christian should have a Christian tongue. James 1 makes that clear. Words have terrific power for harm if they are wrong words, and blessed, immortal power for good if they are holy words. We need to pray continually that God would keep the door of our lips and set a watch before our mouths. Only love should be permitted to interpret itself in speech. Bitterness and all evil should be restrained.—J. R. Miller WWJD? REFLECTION According to the Bible, the tongue is the hardest member of our body to tame. It says that the person who “is never at fault in what he says,” is “a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (James 3:2). Today pray, like David, that God will set a watch over your mouth to guard you from empty words that “fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19).

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SEPTEMBER 22 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross.—Philippians 2:8 Use a sharp knife with yourself, say little, serve all, pass on. This is true greatness, to serve unnoticed and work unseen.—John Nelson Darby WWJD? REFLECTION Mary Slessor, noted missionary to West Africa, said, “Blessed is the Christian who can serve happily in the second rank.” In eternity we will be surprised at the rewards to the many unheralded heroes who lived faithful lives “unnoticed” and “unseen.” Included will be those who spent long hours on their knees in their prayer closets, those who served quietly among their own neighbors, those who taught Sunday school to children who, in turn, grew into strong men and women of God. Let’s not be afraid to count ourselves among that throng of unnoticed and unseen—for in so doing we reflect the lowliness of Christ.

SEPTEMBER 23 “I and the Father are one.”—John 10:30 For me the supreme truth of Christianity is that in Jesus I see God. When I see Jesus feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowing, befriending men and women with whom no one else would have had anything to do, I can say: “This is God.”—William Barclay WWJD? REFLECTION An important duty of the Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” is to befriend the friendless. We all want to be associated with the popular crowd. After all, maybe by being with them, some of their popularity will rub off on us. But no, we are to go to the friendless and represent the true Friend to them. In Jesus we see God.

In the friendless we see Jesus.

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SEPTEMBER 24 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”…

They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas…. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread….—Acts 6:2-7 Two stonecutters were asked what they were doing. The first said, “I’m cutting this stone into blocks.” The second replied, “I’m on a team that’s building a cathedral.”—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION Learn to see yourself as part of a larger picture than what you see around you. You’re not just doing what Jesus would do for the effects on your life only, but for the ripple effect such good deeds have.

You’re not just cutting stone into blocks, you’re building a house for God—of living stones.

SEPTEMBER 25 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.

—Romans 7:18 God expects more failure from us than we do from ourselves because God knows who we are. We are not the righteous person who occasionally sins, we are the sinful person who occasionally—by God’s grace—gets it right. When we start from this perspective we are released from the bondage of perfectionism and are able to forgive ourselves once and for all. We are to take our cue from him. We may be disappointed with our

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selves but God is not. We may feel like condemning ourselves, but God does not.—James Bryan Smith WWJD? REFLECTION Forgiving ourselves for our failures is a big task. We expect so much. Jesus’ disciples failed Him—but in every case the whole story had not yet been told. There were many successes ahead for them—just as there are for you. Lighten up on yourself. God has called you to Himself. You are loved by Him. How can you belittle what God so loves?

SEPTEMBER 26 “I am the way and the truth and the life.”—John 14:6

Seek the truth Listen to the truth Teach the truth Love the truth Abide by the truth And defend the truth Unto death.—John Huss WWJD? REFLECTION John Huss was a fourteenth-century Bohemian preacher and church reformer who was jailed because he refused to stop pointing out the errors that he saw being perpetrated in the church. His commitment to the truth as stated above was indeed “unto death,” as he was eventually burned at the stake. He died singing a prayer, “Lord, have mercy.”

A Christian committed to doing what Jesus would do must have an absolute, unswerving allegiance to the truth.

SEPTEMBER 27 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

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You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.—Psalm 139:1-6 God is at the tip of our scalpels, our screwdrivers, our computer terminals, our dust rags, our vacuum cleaners, our pencils and pens. He is with us in our wheelchairs, or on our hospital beds, when all we can do is sit or lie flat. When we envision Him and His purpose in what we do, then we begin to grow aware of His presence in the middle of it. We are able to engage in our inward conversation with Him as we work, naturally, without strain. He becomes our partner, our collaborator.—Sue Monk Kidd WWJD? REFLECTION A scalpel, a screwdriver, a computer terminal, a dust rag, a pencil or pen—what is it that you use daily that God is at the tip of? He is entwined with you in the daily activities of your life. Living out “What Would Jesus Do?” is merely recognizing God at work in every aspect of our life and allowing Him to work through us where we are.

SEPTEMBER 28 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

—Romans 2:3 Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION Have you ever caught yourself mentally criticizing someone and God pricks your conscience that you are guilty of something very

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similar? Deal as gently with others as Jesus did when He offered mercy to the woman, “caught in the act of adultery.”

Lord, may you have mercy on us, lest we judge others more harshly than we wish to be judged by you.

SEPTEMBER 29 The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.—Proverbs 28:1 There is a false boldness for Christ that comes only from pride. A Christian may rashly expose himself to the world’s dislike and even deliberately provoke its displeasure, and yet do so out of pride…. True boldness for Christ transcends all, it is indifferent to the displeasure of either friends or foes. Boldness enables Christians to forsake all rather than Christ, and to prefer to offend all rather than to offend Him.—Jonathan Edwards WWJD? REFLECTION Boldness is a necessity for everyone who would do what Jesus would do. This boldness, however, is not a prideful boldness, but is backed by the authority of Christ in us. In other words, if we are to be bold, it must be Christ in us being bold. His boldness is not offensive to sinners—only to pretenders to righteousness.

Have we that boldness?

SEPTEMBER 30 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.—James 1:4 Learn these two things: never be discouraged because good things get on so slowly here, and never fail daily to do that good which lies next to your hand. Do not be in a hurry, but be diligent. Enter into the sublime patience of the Lord. God can afford to wait; why cannot we since we have

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him to fall back upon? Let patience have her perfect work and bring forth her celestial fruits. Trust to God to weave your little thread into a web though the patterns show it not yet.—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION Your every movement born from asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is a “little thread” from which God weaves the pattern of a godly life. Such patterns take time to emerge. Have patience with God, yourself—and with others.

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OCTOBER OCTOBER 1 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.—Galatians 3:27 To be like Christ is to be a Christian.—William Penn WWJD? REFLECTION One of the first things we do in the morning is get dressed. As we do, we should remember that God has taken our righteousness, which was “filthy rags,” and has clothed us with Himself. We are adorned with the best. We should be sure our countenance complements our divine apparel.

OCTOBER 2 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”—Isaiah 1:18 If you tell your troubles to God, you put them into the grave; they will never rise again, when you have committed them to Him. If you roll your burden anywhere else it will roll back again to trouble you.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION There is no other place for a Christian to go with his or her sins than to God. And when we do, there is no condemnation awaiting us—only pure forgiveness and restoration. When we confess our sins to God, by faith, we must leave them there. God has declared them as white as snow. I love the following story that Brennan Manning tells illustrating God’s forgiveness:

It seems a woman visited her priest and said that whenever she prayed, she saw Jesus in a vision. “He appears to me as real as you are standing here right now,” the woman told her priest. “And he speaks to me. He tells me that he loves me and wants to be with me. Do you think I’m crazy?” “Not at all,” replied the priest. “But to make sure it is really Jesus who is visiting you, I want you to ask him a question when he appears to you again.

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Ask him to tell you the sins that I confessed to him while I was in confession.” A few days later the woman returned. “Did you have another vision of Jesus?” the priest asked. “Yes, I did,” she replied. “And did you ask him to tell you the sins that I confessed to him while I was in confession?” “Yes, I did,” the woman answered. “And what did he tell you?” the priest asked expectantly. “He said, ‘I forgot.’”

OCTOBER 3 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”—John 21:22 Study to be quiet, that is, study to dismiss all bustle and worry out of your inward life. Study also to do your own business, and do not try to do the business of other people. A great deal of fleshly activity is expended in trying to do other people’s business. It is often very hard to sit still when we see our friends mismanaging matters, according to our ideas, and making dreadful blunders. But the divine order, the best human order, is for each of us to do our own business and to refrain from meddling with the business of anyone else.—Hannah Whitall Smith WWJD? REFLECTION Sometimes we envy other Christians for their gifts, their standing in the church, their families, or many other details of their lives with which we have nothing to do. Know that God has His own unique plan for your life. Focus on that and don’t worry about or envy what God is doing with another.

OCTOBER 4 “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”—Matthew 18:4

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Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being humble. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundation of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.—Augustine of Hippo WWJD? REFLECTION Has God, through adverse circumstances, brought you to a low place for the very purpose of laying a more solid foundation? Then rest assured it can only mean that God is building a structure for you that calls for a mighty foundation.

OCTOBER 5 “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”—Matthew 10:39 Hold fast to Christ, but take His cross and himself cheerfully. Christ and His cross are not separable in this life; however, they part at heaven’s door.—Samuel Rutherford WWJD? REFLECTION As “What Would Jesus Do?” Christians, we do what Jesus does. He went to the cross and if we are to follow Him, we must see ourselves “crucified with Christ” on that same cross. This is our freedom. The cross of Christ is the cross of the Christian and, praise God, the resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of the believer. Live in the power of the resurrection.

OCTOBER 6 And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.—Micah 6:8 Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look at the stars.—Henry Van Dyke

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WWJD? REFLECTION Loving life is a compliment to God. He has created us to dwell here for approximately seventy years and, during that time, we are to: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Is this not doing what Jesus would do?

OCTOBER 7 But our citizenship is in heaven.—Philippians 3:20a We all long for heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in heaven with Him right now—to be happy with Him at this very moment. But being happy with Him now means loving like He loves, helping like He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, being with Him twenty-four hours a day—touching Him in His distressing disguise.—Mother Teresa of Calcutta WWJD? REFLECTION Why wait until we die to enjoy heaven? By living out the life of Christ in our daily life, we bring heaven to earth. We bring the attributes of heaven—happiness, joy, peace, security and all else that is divine to those we encounter.

As we walk the steps of Jesus today, let’s remember that we’re ambassadors of a heavenly kingdom and the fragrance of that kingdom lingers behind us as evidence that heaven has come to earth twice—first in the person of Christ two thousand years ago—and again in the Body of believers He has called to represent Him.

OCTOBER 8 “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

—Luke 22:42, KJV Spread out your petition before God, and then say, “Thy will, not mine, be done.” The sweetest lesson I have learned in God’s school is to let the Lord choose for me.—Dwight L. Moody

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WWJD? REFLECTION Got a tough decision? Let God choose. You’ll know which one is His choice. Whenever we choose for ourselves, we frequently choose for the wrong reasons. Learn to have no will about the matter at hand and you’ll experience the best God has to offer.

OCTOBER 9 …your sorrow led you to repentance.—2 Corinthians 7:9 Of all acts of man, repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.—Thomas Carlyle WWJD? REFLECTION Repentance is never ending. Just when we think we’ve taken care of all impure motives, God reveals yet another. Repentance is like an onion that must be peeled away, layer by layer. But joy is the result.

OCTOBER 10 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.—Ephesians 3:20-21 What you do well, say with your mind that it is God who does it.—Sextus WWJD? REFLECTION Christians are to be like mirrors aimed at the sun. When people see our light, they don’t see light that we generate from ourselves, but a reflected light, from the Father above. What you do well, give glory to God.

Reflect all praise back to Him.

OCTOBER 11 Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

—Hebrews 12:28-29

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A realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.

—Warren Wiersbe WWJD? REFLECTION Painful experiences, like fire, can either purify us or make us bitter. And once a root of bitterness has taken hold of a person, it grows like a vine of poison ivy, choking all life. None of us passes through life unscathed. But when the tribulation fires come along, let them purify, not burn.

OCTOBER 12 And they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.—Revelation 5:8 It is as though God has a favorite food. When we pray, he smells the aroma from the kitchen as you prepare his favorite dish. When God hungers for some special satisfaction, he seeks out a prayer to answer. Our prayer is the sweet aroma from the kitchen ascending up into the King’s chambers making him hungry for the meal. But the actual enjoyment of the meal is his own glorious work in answering our prayer. The food of God is to answer our prayers. The most wonderful thing about the Bible is that it reveals a God who satisfies his appetite for joy answering prayers. He has no deficiency in himself that he needs to fill up, so he gets his satisfaction by magnifying the glory of his riches by filling up the deficiencies of people who pray.—John Piper WWJD? REFLECTION Persistent prayer is an integral part of the Christian life—especially for those who would do what Jesus did. He knew, as we must, that prayer is indispensable for success.

If we could have a peek at what goes on in the heavenlies as we pray, we would all be on our knees a good deal more. Offer up to God the incense of your unceasing prayers, well pleasing to our Father in Heaven.

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OCTOBER 13 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.—Genesis 1:27 A Christian, above all people, should live artistically, aesthetically, and creatively. We are supposed to be representing the Creator who is there, and whom we acknowledge to be there. It is true that all people are created in the image of God, but Christians are supposed to be conscious of that fact, and being conscious of it should recognize the importance of living artistically, aesthetically, and creatively, as creative creatures of the Creator. If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry, and be sensitive to beauty, responsive to what has been created for our appreciation.—Edith Schaeffer WWJD? REFLECTION Although Jesus didn’t say anything specific about art, we do know from Genesis that we are created in the image of the Master Creator of the universe. Further, many of the men who took part in the building of the tabernacle were gifted artisans, given precise instructions as to how to employ their gifts in the service of God. The desire to create is innate in the human soul—put there by God. Many gifted artists, however, have perverted the gift of God, using their talents to depict a twisted discordant picture of life. God’s art uplifts and inspires—challenges.

If you’re gifted in the arts—whether in music, writing, woodworking, painting, quilting (as my wife is), or some other art form—dedicate your talent to the Lord and let Him show through your work. Christians should be the best artists on earth.

OCTOBER 14 Come near to God and he will come near to you.—James 4:8 Live near to God, and all things will appear to you little in comparison with eternal realities.—Robert Murray McCheyne

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WWJD? REFLECTION As we come near to God, our troubles get smaller and smaller. What seems troublesome today, when seen in the light of eternity, will be minuscule indeed. Nearness to God isn’t automatic though; we need to cultivate it through time and silence and His Word.

Find strength to do what Jesus would do in nearness to God.

OCTOBER 15 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

—2 Corinthians 12:7-9 If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I be now?—C. S. Lewis WWJD? REFLECTION We’ve all been disappointed at some point by what seemed like unanswered prayer. Yet most of us can also say in hindsight that many of the things we prayed for were not in our best interests after all. Though of utmost importance at the time, they now seem “silly” in the light of what God chose to do instead.

Don’t begrudge God His right to look out for our best interests in spite of ourselves.

OCTOBER 16 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.—1 Corinthians 10:13 Every temptation is great or small according as the man is.—Jeremy Taylor

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WWJD? REFLECTION No Christian can escape temptation. To be human is to be tempted. However, what would Jesus do about temptation? Wouldn’t He resist with the Word of God? We’ve been given a promise that no temptation is beyond the strength that He supplies to resist, and further, that we will be provided a “way out” so that we can withstand it. It’s by appropriating such promises that we’re able to overcome all temptations and obstacles.

OCTOBER 17 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

—Galatians 6:10 The greatest thing a man can do for his heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children.—Henry Drummond WWJD? REFLECTION It’s interesting that though Paul admonishes us to do good to all people, he urges that it be done especially “to the family of believers.” There is, then, a uniqueness to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are family—and as in any good family, we look out for one another.

Do a kindness today to a brother or sister in Christ.

OCTOBER 18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

—John 15:18 I give thanks to my God that I am worthy to be one whom the world hates.—Jerome WWJD? REFLECTION If we think that doing what Jesus would do will win us popularity contests, we’re in for a big surprise. Though the spiritually hungry will be attracted to our actions, most people will think of us the same way the masses thought about Jesus in His day. Ultimately they put Him to death.

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That may not happen to us literally, but there will definitely be a death between us and the world. We should daily give thanks that we are counted worthy to be hated by the world, as was and is our Master.

OCTOBER 19 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.—1 Corinthians 1:17 My goal is to proclaim the gospel to as many people as possible and to build bridges of friendship and peace regardless of political or economic systems.—Billy Graham WWJD? REFLECTION One way to be an effective witness is to build friendships with nonbelievers with whom we have a common interest. Jesus was accused of being a “friend” of sinners, and thank God He was—for we’re some of the sinners He’s befriended. Don’t be afraid to count among your friends those with whom your relationship will be a bridge to the gospel.

OCTOBER 20 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.—Romans 12:2 Because we lack a divine Center our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things. We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy…. We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick.—Richard Foster

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WWJD? REFLECTION It’s critical that we separate ourselves from the lust to possess that’s so prevalent today. We mustn’t allow the media to form our tastes or tell us what new trinket we must have. Live simply that others may simply live.

OCTOBER 21 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.”

—Luke 12:22 If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.—Calvin Coolidge WWJD? REFLECTION Ninety percent of what we worry about never comes to pass. Most of the other ten percent you can’t change anyway, so what’s to be gained by worry? If anxiety could have a practical effect on the outcome of a matter, then maybe it could be justified. But the truth is that no amount of internal turmoil can change our outward circumstance. Why then not commit it all to prayer and rest in Him?

There’s no percentage in being unhappy or worried. I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.—Mark Twain

OCTOBER 22 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.—2 Corinthians 3:5 When I was in the United States not long ago I talked with a business-woman who formerly had a good position and a fair bank account, and Christ as her Savior. She got along very comfortably with the three. Then she lost both her position and her bank account. She came to me in great distress and depression. I said to her, “But you still have Christ, and He

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is equal to this difficult trial in your life.” She said, “Yes. I have Christ but—” and lapsed back into her depression. For half an hour we talked, yet she did not get beyond, “Christ but—” He was not equal to her difficulty, He did not suffice for her need. Oh! How wounded that all-sufficient One must have been!—Ruth Paxson WWJD? REFLECTION Consider the fresh wounds we inflict on the Lord when we don’t allow His sufficiency to cover our every need. Never allow the word “but” to hinder your faith. Press on. Your current situation will change. Consider “What Would Jesus Do?”

OCTOBER 23 “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”—Matthew 5:37 Learn to say no; it will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION Don’t assume doing what Jesus would do means saying yes to everything. Be wise in the Lord. There are many worthwhile things to which you must say no without guilt. If you take on too much, you will accomplish less than if you give yourself to that which is most important.

OCTOBER 24 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.—Psalm 145:7 Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously. This is a desperately needed grace for all those who are earnest about the Spiritual Disciplines. It is an occupational hazard of devout folks to become stuffy bores. This should not be. Of all people, we should be the most free, alive, interesting. Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives. After all, Jesus rejoiced

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so fully in life that he was accused of being a winebibber and a glutton. Many of us lead such sour lives that we cannot possibly be accused of such things.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION The life of the Christian who is daily asking “What Would Jesus Do?” is one of joy and celebration, not sadness and defeat. Today, rejoice in God your savior as you go about your day.

Celebrate Him!

OCTOBER 25 That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.—1 Timothy 2:2 Be patient till your wings are grown. I fear very much that you are too vehement and headlong in your wishes and attempts to fly. You see the beauty of spiritual light and good resolutions; you fancy that you have almost attained, and your ardor is redoubled; you rush forward, but in vain, for your Master has chained you to your perch, or else it is that your wings are not grown; and this constant excitement exhausts your strength. You must indeed strive to fly, but gently, without growing eager or restless. You resign yourself, but it is always with a BUT; you want this and that, and you struggle to get it. A simple wish to no hindrance to resignation; but a palpitating heart, a flapping of wings, an agitated will, and endless, quick, restless movements are unquestionably caused by deficient resignation. Do you know what you must do? You must be willing not to fly, since your wings are not yet grown. Do not be so eager with your vain desires, do not even be eager in avoiding eagerness; go on quietly in your path—it is a good path.—Francis de Sales WWJD? REFLECTION We’re like birds being pushed out of the nest, learning to fly. We mustn’t be discouraged at our feeble attempts at flight. We will soar—and in fact we do soar at times. But God is building eagles’ wings, not chickens’ wings.

Be patient.

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OCTOBER 26 The important thing is that in every way…Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.—Philippians 1:18 Ironically, just at the time I find my own strength waning, God has provided new ways to extend our ministry through technology…. Until this century the extent of an evangelist’s outreach was determined by the limits of his voice and the distribution of his writings. Now modern technologies have leapfrogged these barriers. Within the last few years, it has literally become possible to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world.

I am sure we would be staggered if we could see what will be possible a hundred, fifty, even ten years from now. If Jesus were here today, I have no doubt He would make use of every means possible to declare His message.—Billy Graham WWJD? REFLECTION In a survey taken years ago, the question was asked, “Do you think God understands the concept of radar?” Amazingly, many respondents said no. How foolish to think that any technology is out of the reach of God. Billy Graham is right to surmise that if Jesus were here today He would make use of every possible means to declare His message. In our attempts at asking “WWJD?” we shouldn’t be reluctant to find innovative ways to do what Jesus would do.

OCTOBER 27 Keep your lives free from the love of money…—Hebrews 13:5 A young boy, setting out for Sunday school, was given two quarters, one for the collection plate, and one for himself. As he was skipping down the street playing with the two coins, one of them slipped out of his hand and rolled quickly into the gutter and down a sewer drain. The lad looked sorrowfully down through the grate for a moment and then said, “Well, there goes the Lord’s quarter.”—Anonymous

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WWJD? REFLECTION Our offerings to God are to be the first fruits, the best; just as the Old Testament lamb used for the Passover was to be spotless—the best. We will never err if we give God the first and the best—of our time, our money, our talent, ourselves.

God offered us the best in the sacrifice of Christ. Can we offer less than our best?

OCTOBER 28 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.—Genesis 19:26 He who moves not forward, goes backward.—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe WWJD? REFLECTION We should always be moving ahead in the life that asks “What Would Jesus Do?” There’s no time for “backsliding,” no advancing two feet only to retreat one foot. There was nothing worthy of Lot’s wife’s longing gaze back toward Sodom. There is nothing of our past sins that we should pine for.

We must look ahead, keeping our eyes on the road ahead, lest we become as pillars of salt.

OCTOBER 29 As for God, his way is perfect.—2 Samuel 22:31 All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts any other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the Godhead. All that God does agrees with all that God is, and being and doing are one in Him.—A. W. Tozer WWJD? REFLECTION As we progress at considering “What Would Jesus Do?” we find that our outer acts are utterly consistent with our inner life. From the latter, spring the former. Harmony is the fruit of doing what Jesus would do.

It’s becoming perfect in Him.

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OCTOBER 30 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.—Exodus 13:21 Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?—Corrie Ten Boom WWJD? REFLECTION Never let your faith be something you can fall back on, as you would a spare tire. Let your faith determine the direction of your life, like a steering wheel.

Follow the pillar of cloud/fire.

OCTOBER 31 “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”—Matthew 25:41 [Hell’s] torments are awful. But if you were to heap a thousand hell-fires one on top of the other, it would be as nothing compared to the punishment of being excluded from the beatific glory of Heaven, hated by Christ, and compelled to hear him say, “I know you not.”—John Chrysostom WWJD? REFLECTION The greatest misery of hell is to be separated from God for eternity, to miss the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, to not be able to join the chorus of those worshiping Him forever. Catch the vision of Heaven in the book of Revelation. Picture yourself there and feed on the motivation for doing what Jesus would do that such a revelation offers.

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NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 1 My times are in your hands…—Psalms 31:15a When James A. Garfield, who afterwards became President of the United States, was president of Hiram College, in Ohio, a man brought his son for entrance as a student, for whom he desired a shorter course than the regular one.

“The boy will never take all that in,” the father said. “He wants to get through by a shorter route. Can you arrange it?” “Oh, yes,” replied the president of Hiram College. “I can arrange it. You son can take the shorter course. It all depends on what you want to make out of him. When God wants to make an oak, he takes a hundred years—but when he wants to make a squash, he requires only two months.”—Author Unknown WWJD? REFLECTION We should never ask God for the lighter load, nor for the shorter course. Ask only for the course He has prescribed for us specifically, with each obstacle clearly designed by God for our benefit.

NOVEMBER 2 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19 Our Lord has called us to be fishers. When a fisherman is at work he makes no noise; he sits quietly there until his net is full; for if he were to make the slightest sound the fish would escape. That is why we work in stillness; when the net is full the whole world will see what we have been doing.—Sadhu Sundar Singh WWJD? REFLECTION If we would do what Jesus would have us do, we must follow His imperative to first “Come,” and then to allow Him to make us “fishers of men.”

Though all of us are gifted in different ways, our talents are to be directed to the purpose of building up the kingdom of God. Though we may not be

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called to be fulltime evangelists, we still must have the same desire that Jesus had—to seek and to save the lost. This we do, not noisely or obnoxiously as a clanging cymbal, but quietly and skillfully—just the way a fisherman goes about his task. Remember it is Jesus who makes us fishers of men, not we ourselves. Rely on Him to provide opportunities for sharing our faith. Learn to do so effectively. Recall how you came to Christ. Giving others your “testimony” is the most valid way of reaching others.

NOVEMBER 3 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.—Leviticus 20:7 Consecration is not wrapping one’s self in a holy web in the sanctuary and then coming forth after prayer and twilight meditation saying, “There, I am consecrated.” Consecration is going out into the world where God Almighty is taking and using every power for his glory. It is taking all advantages as trust funds—as confidential debts owed to God. It is simply dedicating one’s life, in its whole flow, to God’s service.

—Henry Ward Beecher WWJD? REFLECTION If we’re consecrated to God, then certainly our days have also been set aside, hallowed by God. It’s up to us to walk in the daily knowledge that all the problems and opportunities we face, and all the people we meet, are ordered by God for us.

The life of the one who does what would Jesus do is “in its whole flow” ordered of God. That being the case, do you fear any “mistakes” you might make?

NOVEMBER 4 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.—I Peter 4:8

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Condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow-creatures, cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants, and condescend to do the lowest offices to the lowest of mankind.—William Law WWJD? REFLECTION As we practice doing what Jesus would do, there will come a spiritual maturity which will necessarily mean that others may look to us expecting to find the virtues listed above. We should be examples of Christlikeness. We also inherit a responsibility to impart the life we’ve learned to others.

Be available for every opportunity.

NOVEMBER 5 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.—1 John 1:7 I live and love in God’s peculiar light.—Michelangelo WWJD? REFLECTION God is fond of the word “light.” He uses it often to describe Himself and His people. Light shows the way, uncovers that which is hidden, dispels darkness, brings warmth to the world. The continued practice of doing what Jesus would do by Christians increases the brightness of the light in the world. Today, know that you are a light in the darkness.

NOVEMBER 6 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.—Matthew 16:24-25 No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.—William Penn

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WWJD? REFLECTION The modern equivalent of Penn’s words is “no pain, no gain; no guts, no glory.” We can’t have the benefits of Christ without also identifying with Him in His suffering. If we would have resurrection life, we must first endure the Cross. But know this: it is more than worth it.

NOVEMBER 7 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.—Romans 12:20 I remember once hearing Bishop Whipple…utter these beautiful words: “For thirty years I have tried to see the face of Christ in those with whom I differed.” When this spirit actuates us we shall be preserved at once from a narrow bigotry and an easy-going tolerance, from passionate vindictiveness and everything that would mar or injure our testimony for Him who came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.—W. H. Griffith Thomas WWJD? REFLECTION This is the secret of overcoming difficult relationships: see the face of Christ in those with whom we disagree. These are the people Joyce Landorf Heatherly has called “irregular people.” They are the ones whose personalities simply grate on us. Ones with whom we just can’t seem to get along. And yet, they bear the image of Christ, if we allow them to.

Be at peace with them.

NOVEMBER 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isaiah 55:8-9 The majority of us do not enthrone God, we enthrone common sense. We make our decisions and then ask the real God to bless our god’s decision.

—Oswald Chambers

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WWJD? REFLECTION Decisions made from “common sense” often take us on detours from where we really want to be. Many a man or woman has married a person they were “in love with” only to regret their decision for many years. Others have made investments, gone into business, planned moves all of which may have measured up as far as common sense goes. Often the result is that as we see the outcome start to fray, we immediately begin to ask God to bless our bad decision anyway. Sometimes He bails us out, sometimes we must learn our lesson the hard way. How much easier to bring God into our every decision and to sanctify our common sense by the word of God and prayer.

NOVEMBER 9 …but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.—Isaiah 40:31 There are believers who, by God’s grace, have climbed the mountains of full assurance and near communion. Their place is with the eagle in his aerie, high aloft; they are like the strong mountaineer who has trodden the virgin snow, who has breathed the fresh, free air of the Alpine regions, and therefore his sinews are braced and his limbs are vigorous; these are they who do great exploits, being mighty men, men of renown.

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION God seeks mighty men and women, those who will do as Jesus did. He empowers them with His own strength and gives them the wings of eagles. Make this your goal: to be an eagle Christian.

NOVEMBER 10 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.—Psalm 29:2 God wants us to worship Him. He doesn’t need us, for He couldn’t be a self-sufficient God and need anything or anybody, but He wants us. When

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Adam sinned it was not he who cried, “God, where art Thou?” It was God who cried, “Adam, where art thou?”—A. W. Tozer WWJD? REFLECTION For God to want us, rather than need us, should fill us with awe and humility. When we’re distant from God, He’s calling our name, “…where art thou?” Let’s not stray far, but draw near.

NOVEMBER 11 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come…. So you must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

—Matthew 24:42, 44 If Christ were coming again tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.

—Martin Luther WWJD? REFLECTION Most of us, if the truth were told, would not be planting trees today if we knew Christ was returning tomorrow. Mostly likely we’d spend a great deal of time on our knees, repenting, regretting, pleading for mercy.

And yet what’s Christ’s lesson to us about His return? Isn’t it that we’re to be ready, not to get ready? If we would do what Jesus would have us do, we must at all times walk in the light of His promised return. When we do so, we too can set about planting trees with our brother Luther.

NOVEMBER 12 …But whenever anyone turns to the LORD, the veil is taken away.—2 Corinthians 3:16 God hides nothing. His very work from the beginning is revelation—a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth. On and on from divine fact he advances, until at length, in his son Jesus, he unveils his very face.—George MacDonald

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WWJD? REFLECTION The deeds we do as we follow in His stepsare like stepping stones—not to earn the favor of God, for that we cannot do—but stepping stones to an understanding of how God works. We often say to God, “show me what will happen if I obey what Your word says, and I will do it.” But God says to do His word first, without understanding if necessary, and then we will have the veil removed.

NOVEMBER 13 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.—Galatians 2:10 Christ preferred the poor; ever since I have been converted so have I. Let those who like society better have it. If I ever get into it, and it has crossed my path in London, I return sick at heart. I go to the poor; I find the same evil nature as the rich, but I find this difference: the rich and those who keep their comforts and their society, judge and measure how much of Christ they can take and keep without committing themselves; the poor, how much of Christ they have to comfort them in their sorrows.

—John Nelson Darby WWJD? REFLECTION Many Christians are uncomfortable around the poor. How then would they feel around Jesus?—for He too was poor. The reason Darby returned from the high society “sick at heart” was because money and one’s name in the social register tend to false values. Perspective is lost when money comes in like a flood.

May we make our own hearts at home with the poor; then we are certain to identify with them in their distress.

NOVEMBER 14 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.—Psalms 51:3 Let us put ourselves before ourselves and look at ourselves. The bravest moment of a person’s life is the moment when he looks at himself objectively

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without wincing, without complaining. [However] self-examination that does not result in action is dangerous. What am I going to do about what I see? The action called for is surrender—of ourselves to God.—Eric Liddell WWJD? REFLECTION Every so often we need to take stock of our lives. Selfanalysis that invokes depression is not of God. But a good sober looking over the state of one’s soul is occasionally in order.

How is it with you? What are you going to do about it?

NOVEMBER 15 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”—Revelation 5:11-12 The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with Himself included in that community as its prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.—Dallas Willard WWJD? REFLECTION Imagine the day in the future when this world is over and we’re all part of an eternal community of lovers of God. We feed on worshiping the God who is “high and lifted up.” We are part of a kingdom of light, a community of love.

But why wait until that distant day? You are as much a part of that community today as is possible. Find a fellow Christian today and rejoice.

NOVEMBER 16 I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.—Jeremiah 10:23

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Whatever the particular call is, the particular sacrifice God asks you to make, the particular cross He wishes you to embrace, whatever the particular path He wants you to tread, will you rise up, and say in your heart, “Yes, Lord, I accept it; I submit, I yield, I pledge myself to walk in that path, and to follow that Voice and to trust Thee with the consequences”? Oh! but you say, “I don’t know what He will want next.” No, we none of us know that, but we know we shall be safe in His hands.—Catherine Booth WWJD? REFLECTION The guidance of God can be likened to a flashlight on a foggy night that shines only one step ahead. If we were to see several steps more, we would have no reason to trust God—or if we saw that the steps were leading to conflict, we might back away from lack of faith.

Although it’s natural to want to see ahead, it’s also natural for God to create circumstances that lead us to trust Him—one step at a time. Trusting God for every step of the way is how Jesus lived. We too can trust God for our next unseen step.

NOVEMBER 17 …your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

—Matthew 6:8 Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.—Victor Hugo WWJD? REFLECTION What kind of wonderful God is this that knows our needs before we ask? And yet we still must pray. Though we’re busy, we may send our soul to its knees and pray within. Once mastered, this practice can give us the peace of Christ amidst the noise and clamor of the crowds.

Throughout your day, turn your heart frequently toward Him.

NOVEMBER 18 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

—Ephesians 5:21

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In submission we are at last free to value other people. Their dreams and plans become important to us. We have entered into a new, wonderful, glorious freedom—the freedom to give up our own rights for the good of others. For the first time we can love people unconditionally. We have given up the right to demand that they return our love. No longer do we feel that we have to be treated in a certain way. We rejoice in their successes. We feel genuine sorrow in their failures. It is of little consequence that our plans are frustrated if their plans succeed. We discover that it is far better to serve our neighbor than to have our own way.—Richard Foster WWJD? REFLECTION For some Christians the hardest part of doing what Jesus would do is submission. And yet Christ submitted to His enemies all the way to the cross, even though He had the power to prevail over them! Is it easy for you to give in cheerfully when things don’t go your way? When others are proven right and you’re wrong, do you accept your error with grace? What if you are right and yet others are perceived as right? If we’re to be genuine as Christians who want to do what Jesus did, we must learn submission.

NOVEMBER 19 …the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.—2 Corinthians 1:3b-4 At the completion of the reading of any of the books of Moses in the synagogue, it was the custom for the congregation to exclaim, “Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!”

In like manner, when we see others under the enemy’s attack, let us brace and strengthen them.—Amy Wilson Carmichael WWJD? REFLECTION Most Christians have secrets. These secrets have to do with things about us we don’t want known by others—usually for fear of rejection or lack of understanding.

We would be amazed if we knew the vast number of Christians who long for someone to come to them and say with all sincerity, “It’s all right. No matter what your secret is, I’ll stand by you, I’ll strengthen you.”

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When Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him, He added this bit of information: “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Jesus chooses us to be His vehicles of comfort and strength. It is what He wants us to do for one another. So, “Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!”

NOVEMBER 20 I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself, he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.—John 5:19 The secret of a fruitful life is to pour yourself out for others and to want nothing for yourself; to leave yourself utterly in the hands of God, and not care what happens to you.—Jessie Penn-Lewis I want nothing for myself; I want everything for the Lord.—Watchman Nee WWJD? REFLECTION To live exclusively for the glory of God, without concern for one’s own self-interests, is the pinnacle of doing what Jesus would do.

As we continue on our mission, may we increasingly see our purpose in life as finding new ways to give glory to God alone.

NOVEMBER 21 …even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.—Matthew 10:30 Happy and strong and brave shall we be—able to endure all things, and to do all things—if we believe that every day, every hour, every moment of our life is in God’s hands.—Henry Van Dyke WWJD? REFLECTION What does it mean to draw close to God? Precisely this: realizing more and more our spiritual bankruptcy and His immeasurable riches lavished on us; that God numbers the hairs on our head, died for us (not

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corporately, but individually), has prepared a place for us, invites us to “come and dine” with Him. The ability to personalize all these benefits draws us into intimate relationship with our Father.

How easy then to trust every day to such a God. How increasingly difficult not to do what He would do, or to say no to anything He asks.

NOVEMBER 22 …my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:19 Faith in God will not get for you everything you may want, but it will get for you what God wants you to have. The unbeliever does not need what he wants; the Christian should want only what he needs.—Vance Havner WWJD? REFLECTION Did Jesus have all He needed while He walked on the earth? Of course. His Heavenly Father saw that He had His needs met. For us who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” we must realize, no matter what our financial status, that we are very, very, very rich. Our Father has for us “glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” In Him we have all we need to live life.

What else then could we possibly want?

NOVEMBER 23 Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

—Mark 16:15 Some want to live within the sound of a church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.—C. T. Studd WWJD? REFLECTION The way C. T. Studd implemented the above words, after his conversion at a Dwight Moody revival, was first to excel at the British game of cricket. Next he helped found the Student Volunteer Movement which recruited college students to the mission field. Then at age 23, he sailed for China where he served with Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission.

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He gave away his considerable inherited wealth and lived a simple life with the Chinese and later the East Indians. In his forties he fell seriously ill and stepped back from his work for four years, and then, against his doctor’s orders, he sailed for central Africa. He worked there for another twenty years, until his death.

C. T. Studd knew what God wanted him to do and he did it. We may not have such a dramatic calling (or we might!), but we all have as firm a calling as Studd did. One thing we know, from the example Jesus set for us: like C. T. Studd our work for Christ will include the well-being of people.

NOVEMBER 24 …overflowing with thankfulness.—Colossians 2:7b Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.—John Henry Jowett WWJD? REFLECTION Thankfulness sharpens us. It reinforces our understanding of God’s goodness. If there’s a situation that we don’t quite understand what God’s doing, then we thank Him for it. Jesus often thanked His Heavenly Father. As we follow in His steps, we too will walk in total thankfulness.

NOVEMBER 25 I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free…—Psalms 81:6 No man ever sunk under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourself so. If you find yourself so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God’s. He begs you to leave the future to Him and mind the present.—George MacDonald

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WWJD? REFLECTION God is the great burden-lifter. Give Him your burdens regarding your future. Receive from God grace for today, and today only. Be a burden-lifter for others. It’s just what Jesus would do.

NOVEMBER 26 “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” —Matthew 25:42-45 The bread that you store up belongs to the hungry; the coat that hangs unworn in your closet belongs to the homeless; the money that you have hoarded belongs to the poor.—Basil the Great WWJD? REFLECTION Let’s take the words of Basil to heart by going through our closets and pulling out everything we haven’t worn recently. It no longer belongs to us—it belongs to the one who has no clothes. Never give worn-out clothing. Let’s give only what we would give to Christ Himself.

NOVEMBER 27 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…. For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.—Isaiah 41:10, 13-14

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The Bible is full of these “Fear nots” with their accompanying assurances that God will be with us and will certainly care for us. If we believe these assurances, no enemies and no dangers, whether they are outward or inward, can cause us a moment’s fear or doubt.

We will know that the Lord our God is stronger than any enemy the universe contains, and we will say with the apostle, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b)…The spirit of fear does not belong to Christianity. It is never enumerated among the fruits of the Spirit. It is not given to us from God. On the contrary, it is always condemned as being alien to the whole idea of Christianity, and as coming purely and only from unbelief.—Hannah Whitall Smith WWJD? REFLECTION There are many fearful people in this world—but none of them should be Christians who ask “What Would Jesus Do?” We’re commanded by God to “fear not.” Every fear we have must cease. Being delivered of our fears gives us a great freedom. Today we shall “fear not.”

NOVEMBER 28 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”—Isaiah 6:5 Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute?…

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.—Annie Dillard WWJD? REFLECTION God loves the church, and so do all Christians who would do what Jesus did. But sometimes we’re guilty of the passive attitude

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Annie Dillard observed. We take God for granted, forgetting His awesomeness and His holiness.

Don’t we realize what the gospel is about? Is Jesus who He says He is? Are we really given all those tremendous promises in the Bible? How then can it be that we can sometimes act so clueless about our Lord? We must pass the life preservers! Set off the signal flares! God is alive!

NOVEMBER 29 …count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

—Romans 6:11 There are plenty to follow our Lord half-way, but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends and honors, but it touches them too closely to disown themselves.—Meister Eckhart WWJD? REFLECTION Many of us think that asking “What Would Jesus Do?” always involves the giving up of things or doing what we don’t want to do. Not necessarily so. But it does mean a radical change in the way we look at ourselves. When self is displaced by Christ, the changes are always good, but they are always deep. Many people don’t want deep change. Even though such change is good change.

NOVEMBER 30 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me…—Galatians 1:15 God never had a work but what he had men to do it.—Dwight L. Moody WWJD? REFLECTION The work God has for us is a work that was chosen for us before we were born. God chooses our calling with such care that it is absolutely perfectly suited to us. Concentrate your life on the work that’s always had your name on it—even before you had a name!

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DECEMBER DECEMBER 1 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?—Psalm 11:3 We have become the kind of society that civilized countries used to send missionaries to.—William Bennett WWJD? REFLECTION Regarding today’s society, with its eroding moral foundation, the main work of the Christian who asks “What Would Jesus Do?” is intercession and restoration. The former we do on our knees; the latter requires the use of our feet, hands, and mouth.

Historically, God has brought what’s called “revival” to His church through the prayers of believing Christians. After revival sweeps the church, which usually includes widespread confession, repentance, and a new desire for holy living, God moves this invigorated church out into the community, where many are usually won to Christ. This happened in America in the eighteenth century through what was called “The Great Awakening.” It also happened in Wales at the beginning of the twentieth century, and many believe the “Jesus movement” of the 1960s was also a revival. Will God bring revival again? Thousands are fasting and praying so, even as you read this. Perhaps the turning of your community to God is a need with which you can identify. If so, join with others in asking God to bring revival. Then be prepared to have a part in all that follows.

DECEMBER 2 “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’”—Luke 19:17 Do little things as though they were great, because of the majesty of Jesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our life. Likewise, do the greatest things as though they were little and easy, because of His omnipotence.—Blaise Pascal

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WWJD? REFLECTION It’s remarkable that Jesus would tell a parable wherein someone who was faithful in a “very small matter” should then be given authority over ten cities. And yet, this is the nature of growing Christians—because they have learned faithfulness on the smallest level, they therefore know the principle by which greater matters may be governed.

Don’t neglect the small tasks that are yours. What would Jesus do with a small task assigned Him, perhaps such a task as washing the feet of His friends?

DECEMBER 3 “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”—1 Samuel 15:22 The one thing the Lord insists upon is the doing of the thing we know we ought to do.—George MacDonald WWJD? REFLECTION Don’t use “What Would Jesus Do?” as a way to avoid something else you know you should do. For instance, ministering to the poor is certainly something Jesus would do. But are you using such a ministry to avoid what it is that God really has for you to do?

DECEMBER 4 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.—Galatians 5:13 Grace is free, but when once you take it you are bound forever to the Giver, and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like, Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give.—E. Stanley Jones

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WWJD? REFLECTION Grace is not the freedom to do what we want, but the power to do what we should. “Grace” is often interpreted to be a passive word, but when Christians get a handle on the power that is in grace to change us, all such thoughts of passivity are banished. Grace is how we grow. Grace is our great enabler.

Best of all, grace is free—but it is not cheap.

DECEMBER 5 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD.—Isaiah 51:9 The morning is the gate of the day, and should be well guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day’s actions are strung, and should be well knotted with devotion. If we felt more the majesty of life we should be more careful of its mornings. He who rushes from his bed to his business and without worship is as foolish as though he had not put on his clothes, or washed his face, and as unwise as though he dashed into battle without arms or armor.—Charles Haddon Spurgeon WWJD? REFLECTION There’s not a one of us who would enter battle without armor. Nor would any of us go off to work or school without washing our face and checking ourselves out in the mirror. But many of us rush into our day without taking time to look into the mirror of God’s word.

Each day holds circumstances that will be better addressed if we’ve hedged our day with prayer before we set foot out of the door. Today, look yourself over in the spiritual mirror of God’s word, and put on Christ as you put on your clothes. Seize the day in prayer knowing that your prayer invites God to walk through your day with you.

DECEMBER 6 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”—Matthew 5:5

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God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.—Izaak Walton WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus was a walking example of meekness, which has been defined as “strength under control.” When we ask “What Would Jesus Do?” our answer must include accepting a meek attitude. This means a deliberate turning away from temptations to pride. The best way to cultivate meekness is to become aware of the miracle of God’s strength residing in such a weak vessel as us.

DECEMBER 7 “…hallowed be your name…”—Matthew 6:9b When the church finds its members falling into scandalous sins, then it is time for the church to awake and cry to God for Revival. When such things are taking place as give enemies of [Christianity] an occasion for reproach, it is time for the church to ask God, “What will become of Thy great name?”—Charles G. Finney WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus was very concerned about God’s name. In teaching us to pray, He told us first to “hallow” (make holy, set apart) His name. In the Old Testament account of Moses being given the ten commandments, we learn that the third commandment prohibits misuse or defaming God’s name.

When Christians fall into open sin, it gives unbelievers cause to mock our faith, which is an insult to God. If we would ask “What Would Jesus Do?” about the name of the Father, we would surely get the answer, “Hallow His name.” And not just in word only, but also we would look to our deeds as an expression of hallowing God’s name. We would also see the sins of the Church as a desecration of His name, and ask Him for renewal in the Body of Christ.

DECEMBER 8 But avoid foolish controversies…and arguments and quarrels.

—Titus 3:9

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Avoid controversy, my brethren, as you would avoid the entrance to hell itself! Let them have it their own way. Let them talk, let them write, let them correct you, let them traduce you. Let them judge and condemn you, let them slay you…. You have not enough of the Divine nature in you to be a controversialist.—Alexander Whyte WWJD? REFLECTION Can you imagine Jesus getting involved in a protracted heated argument? No! He responded to questions and challenges firmly and confidently. But not in arguments.

Our problem is that even if we’re right in our position, our contentious attitude may do more harm than good. Flee arguments.

DECEMBER 9 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”—John 15:5 Oneness in Christ demands likeness to Christ. Fruit is Christ-likeness, and much fruit is the fullest measure of Christ-likeness; and Christ-likeness is Christ in you, and Christ in you is manifested glory. Are you in Christ? Then what are you? Are you like Christ? Are you bearing fruit? Can others see Christ in you? To what measure are you bearing fruit? Only fruit, or more fruit, or much fruit? Would the members of your family know you are a Christian if you didn’t go to church? Would your friends know that you are a Christian if you didn’t testify or pray? Would any one know if he just looked into your face?

Friends, it ought to be seen. If Christ lives in us, there should be something in the expression of the eye, something in the very lines of the face; we should bear the mark in our faces of the presence of the glorified Christ within…. A glory Christian will flood everywhere he goes with sunshine, the sunshine of the presence of the glorified Christ. Is Christ the very life of your life?—Ruth Paxson

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WWJD? REFLECTIONS It’s not possible to be a Christian who does what Jesus would do without an utter dependence on Christ within. It would be like fruit unconnected to any vine or tree—no life source. Such fruit cannot exist, and if it could exist, it would quickly wither and die. Our Christian life must be rooted in Him. He must be the absolute source of all our deeds flowing from the answer to the question, “What Would Jesus Do?”

DECEMBER 10 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.—Psalm 126:1-2 We have never been forbidden to laugh, or to be filled or to join new possessions to old…or to delight in musical harmony and to drink wine.

—John Calvin WWJD? REFLECTION Check your concordances—God Himself laughs and so do His children. God gives us laughter. He gives us good friends, good times. He gives us possessions over which we are to be stewards. He gives us Himself.

Be a joyful Christian. Laugh today—be hilariously happy! And if you want to give God a chuckle, tell Him your plans.

DECEMBER 11 “But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”—John 16:13 My principal method of defeating heresy is by establishing truth. One proposes to fill a bushel with tares; but if I can fill it first with wheat, I shall defy his attempts.—John Newton WWJD? REFLECTION Too many of us go about finding all we can that’s wrong with the world and the church, griping about how it ought to be otherwise. But if we would put our hand to the plow and do what Jesus would do, by

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establishing truth and working for the good of our own neighborhoods, we will do more to effect the changes we seek than we do by complaining.

The answer to “What Would Jesus Do?” almost always involves a positive, not negative response. And heresy and unbelief can’t thrive in an atmosphere of sanctified positive action.

DECEMBER 12 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…—Ecclesiastes 3:1 How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.—George Washington Carver WWJD? REFLECTION Life is change. We won’t always be where we are today. If our present circumstances are good, they will one day be worse. Then one day they will be better again.

Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, knew delight and He knew agony. For all the events in our life, there is a time allotted. Remember the lessons learned as you pass through hard times, for when you’re once again prosperous, you’ll see others in the trouble you’ve passed through and as you ask “What Would Jesus Do?” you’ll know the answer—it will have been given you in your hour of pain.

DECEMBER 13 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”—Matthew 9:21-22 The Christian life must be in its own degree something like the Master’s own life, luminous with His hope, and surrounded by a bracing atmosphere which uplifts all who even touch its outer fringe.—Hugh Black

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WWJD? REFLECTION Is it possible that those who touch the fringe of your spirit can also touch the Lord? Yes, if in doing what Jesus would do, you radiate His love. Emit hope today. Someone who is hopeless will be blessed as they simply touch the edges of your lifestyle.

DECEMBER 14 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”—Mark 14:38 Would you have your flesh obey your spirit? Then let your spirit obey your God. You must first be governed, that you may govern.—Augustine of Hippo WWJD? REFLECTION The body of flesh is indeed weak. It’s hard for many to do what should be done. Yet when Christ lives in the life of the believer, we have all the resources necessary to govern ourselves. The secret is that our spirit—the part of us that has fellowship with God—must be strong.

We grow spiritually by feeding on the Word of God. The Bible is packed with spiritual vitamins. If we suffer from a deficiency, we have only to break open our Bibles and gain strength. The result of a steady diet of the Word of God is that we find our faith growing and our ability to govern ourselves strengthened.

DECEMBER 15 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

—Matthew 6:27 I feel a tension within me. I have only a number of years left for the active ministry. Why not use them well? Yet one word spoken with a pure heart is worth thousands spoken in a state of spiritual turmoil. Time given to inner renewal is never wasted. God is never in a hurry.—Henri Nouwen

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WWJD? REFLECTION After several years of teaching theology, Henri Nouwen became restless, wishing for a more concrete way to live his faith. During a brief stay at L’Arche, a French community comprised of mentally handicapped people and their assistants, Nouwen found his niche. In 1985 he left the academic world and for the next ten years served happily as priest at the L’Arche community of Richmond Hill, near Toronto.

Henri Nouwen died in September 1996. His journey is over, the tension he felt is gone. He made a decision to follow Christ into a new ministry and there found the peace he had been seeking—doing what Jesus would do. For those of us of restless heart, we must put aside our quest for peace and simply do what Jesus would do. Avoid turmoil. Cherish inner renewal. Give God time. Love much. Peace will be the result.

DECEMBER 16 “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”—Matthew 16:18 The Church of God apart from the Person of Christ is a useless structure. However ornate it may be in its organization, however perfect in all its arrangements, however rich and increased with goods, if the Church is not revealing the Person of Christ, lifting Him to the height where all men can see Him, then the Church becomes an impertinence and sham, a blasphemy and a fraud, and the sooner the world is rid of it, the better.

—G. Campbell Morgan WWJD? REFLECTION One goal of asking ourselves “What Would Jesus Do?” is to have churches that in turn do what Jesus would do. Conversely, if there’s no life in our churches, it’s because there’s no life in us.

Jesus instituted His church and proclaimed that nothing shall prevail against it. That should be our attitude of support for our churches as well. Let’s pray for our churches, encourage our pastors, and be involved in this church for which Jesus gave His life.

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DECEMBER 17 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.—Proverbs 16:3 I have an essentially second-class mind…but I can sit down and work. I don’t make the slightest claim to inspiration in preaching or writing. I only claim to have gone to work as any working [person] must do.

—William Barclay WWJD? REFLECTION If the truth were known, most successful Christians aren’t necessarily the most gifted people God could find. Rather, they are willing to submit their weaknesses to God and show up where and when they’re supposed to. God does the rest.

Pioneer missionary Hudson Taylor said it best, “I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use, and then He found me.”

DECEMBER 18 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him…

—Psalms 37:7, KJV Henry Suso, the great German mystic, once heard a knock at his door. A strange woman stood there with a babe in her arms which she thrust into his arms, saying, “Here you have the fruit of your sin.” Suso had never before seen the woman. He was as innocent as a dove. The woman hastened away leaving him with the babe. The news of what had happened went through the town like a flash. So this is the man we had revered as holy! What a hypocrite, what a fraud. Suso was crushed. He groaned like a dying man. What was he to do? He withdrew to a desert place and called upon the Lord saying it was more than he could bear. “What shall I do, Lord?” he cried in his pain and shame. “Thou knowest that I am innocent.”

The answer came to him with perfect clearness and finality. “What shall you do? Do as I did; suffer for the sins of others and say nothing.” Suso saw the Cross. Peace came to his troubled soul. He returned to his

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home; took the child and sweetly, humbly cared for the waif and reared it as if it were his very own, never saying a word in self-defense. Years later, the unknown woman returned to publish abroad Suso’s innocence. but the work was done. Suso had been conformed to the image of God’s Son. The victory was achieved.—F. J. Huegel WWJD? REFLECTION Doing what Jesus would do sometimes means a death to our reputation, a willingness to suffer false accusation, and a leaving of all vindication to God.

It’s through suffering injustice that we’re most able to be conformed to the image of Christ. Such circumstances tend to reveal the depth of selfish pride that remains in us. Today, watch for situations where you’re tempted to defend your reputation. Remember that God knows the truth. Should anyone else’s opinion matter?

DECEMBER 19 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do….

Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.—John 6:5-6, 11 It is right before we partake of food to bless the maker of all things, and to sing when we drink.—Clement of Alexandria WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus noticed the hunger of the five thousand. If we would do what Jesus would do, we too must notice the hunger around us. Just as Jesus multiplied the limited food available so as to feed all, so too can God multiply our food to feed others as we give to any of the fine organizations providing food and medical care to those who are hungry.

Many Christians, as they ask a blessing over their food, refer to this as “returning thanks.” Giving to the hungry is another very good way to return thanks to God. It’s also an exercise in doing what Jesus would do.

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DECEMBER 20 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.—Ephesians 6:18 When the Spirit has come to reside in someone, that person cannot stop praying; for the Spirit prays without ceasing in him. No matter if he is asleep or awake, prayer is going on in his heart all the time. He may be eating or drinking, he may be resting or working—the incense of prayer will ascend spontaneously from his heart. The slightest stirring of his heart is like a voice which sings in silence and in secret to the Invisible.

—Isaac the Syrian WWJD? REFLECTION God wants to develop a prayerful spirit in us—a spirit that prays without ceasing. A lot of our doing what Jesus would do can be accomplished through prayer. For if we pray, we may very well find ourselves becoming the answer to our prayers.

DECEMBER 21 “But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”—Matthew 6:33 Pitch your demands heaven high and they’ll be met. Ask for the Morning Star and take (thrown in) your earthly love.—C. S. Lewis WWJD? REFLECTION We are encouraged to have high expectations of God. Jesus said it’s the Father’s good pleasure to give to us. Learn how to be bold before God’s throne, without presumption.

If we pray with firm faith that God will use us to do what Jesus would do, how can He not grant our request?

DECEMBER 22 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

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“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”… “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”—Revelation 19:6-7, 9 The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot!

—Augustine of Hippo WWJD? REFLECTION In living for the glory of God, we must be so filled with His praises that our countenance tells all. Jesus said that if we don’t praise Him, the very rocks will cry out.

Let’s do our part to keep the rocks silent.

DECEMBER 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

—Matthew 1:23 God transforms certain experiences of ours into awakening events. These may be our most common moments, but if we let them, they can become doorways to a deeper encounter with Him. Who knows at what moment we may begin to wake up to the astonishing fact that Immanuel (God with us) is still God’s name, that every moment the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is coming to us.—Sue Monk Kidd WWJD? REFLECTION As we approach Christmas, let’s remember the importance of Jesus’ designation as Immanuel, “God with us.” Relish this Christmas season. Don’t allow those who commercialize His birth to rob you of your yuletide joy. Let’s make sure that Christ is included in our celebration of His birth.

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DECEMBER 24 And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manager, because there was no room for them at the inn.—Luke 2:7 There are some of us…who think to ourselves, “If I had only been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby. I would have washed His linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manager!” Yes, we would. We say that because we know how great Christ is, but if we had been there at that time, we would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem…. Why don’t we do it now? We have Christ in our neighbor.—Martin Luther WWJD? REFLECTION It’s interesting that Jesus begins life not just in a stable, but in the stable of an inn where there’s no room for His advent. Two thousand years later, there is still no room for Him in many hearts. But if we would make the same visit to see Jesus as the wise men, we may do so by visiting Him in our neighbor.

At Christmas, many normally hard hearts are softened. It is a perfect time to express the love of Christ—just as Jesus would do it. That’s really all He wants for His birthday.

DECEMBER 25 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!—2 Corinthians 9:15 Christmas, my child, is love in action…. When you love someone, you give to them, as God gives to us. The greatest gift He ever gave was the Person of His Son, sent to us in human form so that we might know what God the Father is really like! Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.—Dale Evans Rogers I will honor Christmas in my heart to try to keep it all year long.

—Charles Dickens

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WWJD? REFLECTION “Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas,” rightly says Dale Evans Rogers. These seasonal feelings of joy can sustain us all year if we ask and do what Jesus would do all year long.

DECEMBER 26 You have wearied the LORD with your words.—Malachi 2:17 People don’t want to hear any more words. In our mechanical age, all words have become alike…. To say “God is love” is like saying, “Eat Wheaties.”—Thomas Merton WWJD? REFLECTION Jesus referred to us as light and salt. But both light and salt must be evidenced by works, not words only. Light must shine, salt must season. Christians must do what Jesus would do; or else we are oxymoronic Christians—lights that do not shine and salt that does not season.

DECEMBER 27 I will fear no evil, for you are with me.—Psalm 23:4 Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself.—Francis de Sales WWJD? REFLECTION As we approach the end of the year, we begin to wonder what lies ahead for us next year? It’s time to settle now that we will enter the new year with even greater anticipation than we did this past year. We will fear no evil. We will continue to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” We will look for God in others. We will allow Christ to minister through our lives.

We will look forward to good things next year.

DECEMBER 28 Fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

—1 Timothy 1:18-19

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He will be easily content and at peace whose conscience is pure.

—Thomas à Kempis WWJD? REFLECTION An impure conscience is a harbinger of spiritual shipwreck. As the year draws to an end, take time to review any remembrances of a violated conscience and confess them to God. Thus will you enter the new year with a clean slate.

DECEMBER 29 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.—1 John 2:27 You must learn, you must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid of your past is to make a future out of it. God will waste nothing.

—Phillips Brooks WWJD? REFLECTION Is there something that happened this year that is yet unresolved? Something you count as loss? Expect God to use that experience to help build your future. He will waste nothing from what happened this year.

Let Him have it, now. Before the year ends.

DECEMBER 30 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”—John 11:25-26 When founding father John Jay was asked how he planned to spend his retirement years, he replied with a warm smile, “I have a long life to look back on and an eternity to look forward to.”—Anonymous WWJD? REFLECTION God uses our memories to remind us of His faithfulness. In the Old Testament God was constantly telling the people to recall the great ways He had moved on their behalf and to share these memories with

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their children so that the knowledge of God’s faithfulness to His people would be passed on to each generation.

God has been faithful to us this past year as we’ve asked “What Would Jesus Do?” each day. Let’s recall some of the memories by making a list of some of things that happened as a result of asking “What Would Jesus Do?”*

DECEMBER 31 There is surely a future for you,

and your hope will not be cut off.—Proverbs 23:18 When I was a little boy on the sun-bathed prairies of southern Illinois, a year seemed interminable—it moved forward on leaden feet. Now the years pass like the flash of sunlit bubbles on wind-tossed waves, as though they must hasten and lose themselves in that eternity when time shall be no more. And yet what an unspeakable gift of God is a year! Who can compute its value or estimate its worth? We give and receive our little gifts and rejoice, but how paltry they are compared to God’s gift of a year of days!—Samuel Logan Brengle The years of God are full and satisfying; each soul shall have its turn; it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. There is so much room; there are such thronging possibilities; there is such endless hope!—A. D. T. Whitney WWJD? REFLECTION The new year is anxious to begin, the old is ready to pass into history. Our pledge to ask “What Would Jesus Do?” for a full year is up. But before we end our pledge, we have one more situation about which to ask our familiar question and it is this:

What would Jesus do about next year?

*

See note in Afterword.

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AFTERWORD to share some of the highlights of this past year that happened as a result of your pledge, I’d enjoy reading them. I can be reached at:

IF YOU’D CARE

Nick Harrison 1699 North Terry Street Eugene, OR 97402 If 365 WWJD? has been meaningful to you, you might be interested in my two other daily devotionals, available at your local bookstore: Promises To Keep: Daily Devotions for Men Seeking Integrity (HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) and His Victorious Indwelling: A Deeper Life Devotional (Zondervan, 1998).

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AUTHOR INDEX Thomas Aquinas; 1225-1274 (June 4, July 13) was a scholarly Italian theologian whose many academic works have had a profound influence on Christian thought. Aristides; (February 24) was a second century Christian philosopher from Athens whose Apology for the Christian Faith, addressed to Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, was widely popular among fourth-century Christians. Augustine of Hippo; 354-430 (January 17, February 4, June 27, October 4, December 14, 22) was one of the most influential Christian writers of all time. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, Augustine lived a rebellious life in his youth, which included fathering a son by his mistress of thirteen years. After searching for truth through philosophy, he found Christ and wrote such classic works as Confessions and City of God, both of which are still widely read. William Barclay; 1907-1978 (September 23, December 17) was a Scottish Biblical scholar and writer. Author of many books, he’s best remembered for his best-selling commentaries, The Daily Study Bible. Basil the Great; c. 330-379 (June 11, November 26) was born into a wealthy landowning family known for their Christian faith. He became the bishop of Caesarea in 370 and died there in 379. Richard Baxter; 1615-1691 (May 29, June 30) was one of England’s most renowned preachers. His book The Saints’ Everlasting Rest was among the most widely read books of the seventeenth century. Henry Ward Beecher; 1813-1887 (January 20, February 28, April 28, June 21, November 3) was a popular Congregationalist pastor and writer whose oratorical skills drew great crowds. He, like his sister, novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, was an ardent abolitionist and champion of human rights. William J. Bennett; 1943- (December 1) is a popular spokesman on behalf of Christian morality in the public arena and author of the The Book of Virtues. Bernard of Clairvaux; 1090-1153 (February 6, May 10, June 10) was one of the great Christian teachers of medieval Christianity. His motto, “To know Jesus and Jesus crucified” is still quoted as the essence of Christianity. His hymns include “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee,” and “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”

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Hugh Black; 1868-1953 (August 2, December 13) is best known for his classic book Friendship. Andrew Bonar; 1810-1892 (July 18) was a Scottish minister and writer widely remembered for his work on the memoirs of his friend, Robert Murray McCheyne and his editing of Samuel Rutherford’s letters. Catherine Booth; 1829-1890 (May 25, November 16) is considered the “mother of the Salvation Army,” which she and her husband, William Booth, founded. Mrs. Booth preached often to the masses and labored to improve the position of women in Great Britain. Edwin Booth; 1833-1893 (May 4) was a noted stage actor and brother of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. William Booth; 1829-1912 (February 13) was an English evangelist and founder of the Salvation Army. David Brainerd; 1718-1747 (April 17) was a young missionary to the American Indians near Stockbridge, Massachusetts; his diary, published posthumously by Jonathan Edwards, father of Brainerd’s fiancé has inspired many to enter the mission field. Samuel Logan Brengle; 1860-1936 (December 31) was an early Salvation Army officer. Upon returning to the United States from his training in England, he suffered the persecution of many early Salvationists, including a brick to the head, which nearly ended his life. During his convalescence he started to write, resulting in several books with total sales of more than a million copies. Jill Briscoe; 1935- (May 7), born in Liverpool, England is a popular conference speaker and the author of many books. She, along with husband, Stuart Briscoe, serves at the 3,000-member Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Phillips Brooks; 1835-1893 (January 16, 26, March 22, April 16, May 23, June 16, July 2, August 3, 17, 28, December 29) was an American Episcopal minister active in the abolitionist movement. He served as bishop of Massachusetts in 1891 and preached extensively throughout the state until his death in 1893. Brooks also wrote the words to the popular Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” John Bunyan; 1628-1688 (March 8), known as “the Tinker of Bedford,” was an English preacher and author of more than sixty books, including the classic best-seller Pilgrim’s Progress. John Calvin; 1509-1564 (March 14, December 10) was a French Protestant Reformer, trained in law, whose teachings have had a profound impact on Christian history.

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William Carey; 1761-1834 (May 31) is considered the “father of modern missions.” Truly a visionary, Carey, born near Northampton (England), hoped to take the gospel to the entire world. His courageous efforts inspired many missionaries to follow his example. Thomas Carlyle; 1795-1881 (March 11, 24, April 20, June 13, August 4, 16, October 9) was an intellectual literary figure in nineteenth-century England. Amy Wilson Carmichael; 1867-1951 (November 19) was a missionary to India and founder of Dohnavur Fellowship, a ministry devoted to saving neglected children. She was a prolific writer and many of her books are still widely circulated. George Washington Carver; 1864-1943 (July 21, December 12) was an agricultural chemist whose many accomplishments include discovering more than three hundred uses for the peanut. He also helped develop a cure for infantile paralysis and was asked by both Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to join them in their respective works. Carver’s laboratory was named “God’s Little Workshop” because he never took scientific texts as his source, but rather simply asked God how to perform his experiments. Lewis Sperry Chafer; 1871-1952 (May 5) was a popular preacher and writer in the early twentieth century. Chafer was also founder and first president of Dallas Theological Seminary. Oswald Chambers; 1874-1917 (March 18, September 13, November 8) was a Scottish missionary converted under the ministry of Charles Spurgeon. His popular public ministry was cut short at the age of 43 when he was suddenly taken sick and died while ministering to British troops in Egypt. His wife later compiled many of his writings into what has become the classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. John Chrysostom; c. 347-407 (July 20, October 31) was an early church father and Christian philosopher. Clement of Alexandria; c.155-c.220 (June 19, December 19) was born in Athens of pagan parents but converted to Christianity through his study of philosophy. Clement wrote widely, mostly during his tenure as a teacher in Alexandria. Calvin Coolidge; 1872-1933 (October 21) served as the thirtieth president of the United States (1923-1929). Lettie B. Cowman; 1870-1960 (May 21), along with her husband, Charles, was a missionary, but is largely remembered for her work in compiling the popular devotional book Streams in the Desert.

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Fanny Crosby; 1820-1915 (August 1) was one of the church’s best-known hymn writers. Blinded through a doctor’s negligence at six weeks, she nonetheless took this accident as God’s will. Her most popular hymns include “Blessed Assurance,”“Sweet Hour of Prayer,” and “To God Be the Glory.” Cyril of Jerusalem; c.310-386 (July 6) was an early church father and bishop of Jerusalem. John Nelson Darby; 1800-1882 (March 1, June 23, September 3, 22, November 13) was a prolific writer, teacher, and leader among the Plymouth Brethren. His influence on subjects such as the deeper life and Bible prophecy have influenced millions of believers. Edward Dennett; 1831-1914 (July 7) was one of the many influential writers of the early days of the Brethren movement. Charles Dickens; 1810-1870 (December 25) was the popular British author of such classic novels as David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and A tale of Two Cities. Annie Dillard; 1945- (November 28) is the best-selling author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Teaching a Stone to Talk, and several other books. James Dobson; (June 1) is founder and president of “Focus on the Family” a major Christian publisher and radio ministry. His many best-selling books include Dare to Discipline, The Strong-Willed Child, What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women, and Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives. Henry Drummond; 1851-1897 (February 5, April 6, July 14, October 17) was a popular Scottish writer and evangelist, best known for his popular book on 1 Corinthians 13, The Greatest Thing in the World. Meister Eckhart; 1260-c.1327 (February 2, June 17, November 29) was a German mystic, pastor, and theologian. Jonathan Edwards; 1703-1758 (June 22, August 22, September 1, 29) was one of America’s most influential Colonial preachers, often remembered for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741). John Eliot; 1604-1690 (January 12) was a Cambridge-educated Englishman who emigrated to America to evangelize the Indians of Massachusetts. Due to his tireless efforts on the behalf of the Native Americans he loved, he was dubbed “the Apostle to the Indians.” Elisabeth Elliot; (January 29) is the widow of missionary Jim Elliot. Her efforts to tell her husband’s story were amply rewarded by the continued success of several books she’s written, including The Shadow of the Almighty, The Savage, My Kinsman, and Through Gates of Splendor. 216 / 365 WWJD?

Philip James (Jim) Elliot; 1927-1956 (April 12, May 14, August 29) was a missionary to the Auca Indians of eastern Ecuador. He and his four fellow missionaries were murdered by the Aucas—an event that received much attention among Christians worldwide. Subsequently many Aucas came to Christ. Jim Elliot’s story has been told by his widow, Elisabeth, in books such as Through Gates of Splendor and The Shadow of the Almighty. François de la Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon; 1651-1715 (March 20, May 12, July 23, August 18) was a French churchman, author, and archbishop of Cambrai from 1695-1715. Charles G. Finney; 1792-1875 (December 7) although trained as a lawyer, after his dramatic conversion to Christ became one of the most influential and popular revivalists of the nineteenth century. He authored many books and served as president of Oberlin College for fifteen years. Richard Foster; (January 10, February 15, April 2, May 8, July 1, August 11, September 9, October 20, 24, November 18) is the author of several popular books on the spiritual life including Celebration of Discipline, Freedom of Simplicity, and Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. Francis of Assisi; 1182-1226 (January 2, March 30) is remembered for his emphasis on nature as a means of communing with God and his insistence on vows of poverty. He died at age forty-four. Francis de Sales; 1567-1622 (February 11, May 26, September 4, October 25, December 27) was a French bishop whose Introduction to the Devout Life is a classic book, still widely read by both Catholics and Protestants. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; 1749-1832 (July 22, October 28,) was a German poet, dramatist, scientist, and philosopher. Billy Graham; 1918- (June 5, 18, August 23, October 19, 26) is one of the most well-known and successful evangelists of all time and author of several best-selling books including Angels: God’s Secret Angels and Just As I Am. Madame Jeanne Marie Bouvier Guyon; 1648-1717 (March 10) was a controversial advocate of Christian mysticism and abandonment to God. Her views brought her both supporters and enemies, ultimately resulting in her confinement to a convent. Among her supporters was François Fénelon. Augustus Hare; 1792-1834 (July 15) was an English clergyman. Mark Hatfield; 1922- (August 12) served as a United States senator from Oregon for nearly thirty years. Vance Havner; (November 22) was a popular twentieth-century preacher and writer. AUTHOR INDEX / 217

Howard Hendricks; (September 19) is a professor and lecturer at Dallas Theological Seminary. He’s written several books, including Heaven Help the Home, and with his son, William, As Iron Sharpens Iron. Matthew Henry; 1662-1714 (January 3, March 4, June 9, August 20) was an English Presbyterian minister best remembered for his exhaustive commentary on the Bible. E(dward) V. Hill; 1933- (February 19) is the pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, founder of the World Christian Training Center, and a popular Christian speaker. Archibald Hodge; 1823-1886 (August 24) was a Presbyterian theologian and teacher. Gerard Manley Hopkins; 1844-1889 (January 15) was a poet and priest whose parishes included London, Oxford, Liverpool, and Chesterfield. F. J. Huegel; (December 18) served as a chaplain in World War I and was a missionary to Mexico for more than twenty-five years. His best-known books include Bone of His Bone and Forever Triumphant. Victor Hugo; 1802-1885 (November 17) was a popular French poet and novelist perhaps best known for Les Misérables. John Huss; 1373-1415 (September 26) was a Bohemian priest whose sometimes Protestant-like beliefs caused him controversy with his superiors. He eventually was burned at the stake for his views. He died with the words from a Greek liturgical prayer on his lips, “Lord, have mercy.” W(illiam) R(alph) Inge; 1860-1954 (July 9) was a noted English theologian. He served as dean of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral from 1911-1934. Ireneus; c.175-195 (August 31) was the bishop of Lyons in southern France and one of the most important Christian writers of the second century. Isaac the Syrian; ?-c.700 (December 20), also known as Isaac of Nineveh, was a Syrian bishop, theologian, and mystical writer who influenced both Eastern and Western Christians. William James; 1842-1910 (April 8) was a philosopher and psychologist best known for his classic book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. Jerome; c. 345-c. 419 (October 18) was a Latin Bible translator and Biblical scholar. Samuel Johnson; 1709-1784 (August 9) was an English poet, moralist, and lexicographer whose Dictionary of the English Language (1755) was the first comprehensive dictionary in English. A devout Anglican, Johnson was the subject of one of literature’s most classic biographies, The Life of Samuel Johnson by his colleague, James Boswell.

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E. Stanley Jones; 1884-1973 (January 7, December 4) became a Christian at age seventeen. Educated in law, he became a missionary to India where he established Christian ashrams (centers for meditation and worship). He authored twenty-nine books and was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. John Henry Jowett; 1863-1923 (January 19, February 10, November 24) was a popular English Congregationalist preacher who, for several years, pastored New York City’s Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church before succeeding G. Campbell Morgan as pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. Justin Martyr; c. 100-165 (August 8) was an early Christian writer from Greece. While teaching in Rome, he was martyred by order of Marcus Aurelius. Thomas Kelly; 1893-1941 (January 13, August 30) was a Quaker missionary, speaker, writer, and author of the spiritual classic, A Testament of Devotion. Sue Monk Kidd; (January 11, July 8, August 15, September 8, 27, December 23) has been an editor at Guideposts magazine and is the author of God’s Joyful Surprise and When the Heart Waits. Søren Kierkegaard; 1813-1855 (July 31, September 5) was a Danish philosopher and author who believed that a subjective experience with Christ was missing from much of the Christianity he saw. His writings reflected his call for a return to a personal relationship with the Biblical Christ. Clyde S. Kilby; 1902-1986 (February 16, April 15) was a foremost C. S. Lewis scholar, founder of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College, and author of numerous books, including The Christian World of C. S. Lewis and A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis. John Knox; 1514-1572 (August 7) was a Scottish churchman and reformer, largely regarded for his powerful impact on the development of the Scottish church. Frank Laubach; 1884-1970 (August 2, April 25) was a pioneer in the field of literacy. His motto was “Each one teach one” wherein after learning to read, a student was expected to teach someone else. Laubach’s work was a result of his belief in prayer, which he referred to as “the mightiest force in the world.” William Law; 1686-1761 (January 23, November 4) was an English writer whose major work, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, continues to inspire Christians worldwide. Brother Lawrence; 1605-1691 (September 6) served as a lay brother for an order of the Discalced Carmelites in Paris. His duty in the order as a cook lasted for thirty years during which time he wrote short spiritual notes which were published after his death. Today those notes comprise his book The Practice of the Presence of God, which has achieved classic status down through the centuries.

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C. S. Lewis; 1898-1963 (October 15, December 21) is remembered for his many books, which vary from the intellectual Mere Christianity to the children’s fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. Eric Liddell; 1902-1945 (March 2, November 14) won the 400-meter dash in the 1924 Olympics. The story of his refusal to race on Sunday during those games was depicted in the Academy-Award winning film Chariots of Fire. He went on to serve as a Christian missionary in war-torn China, where he died in a Japanese concentration camp near the end of World War II. Mark Littleton; 1951- (February 27) is a popular contemporary author of many books, including Escaping the Time Crunch and When God Seems Far Away. David Livingstone; 1813-1873 (April 13, July 3) was a pioneer missionary to Africa. At his death, his native assistants were so devoted to him that they bore his body 1500 miles to the coast. His funeral was held in Westminster Abbey and his tombstone reads, “For thirty years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize the native races, to explore the undiscovered secrets, to abolish the desolating slave trade of Central Africa.” Martin Lloyd-Jones; 1899-1981 (September 20) was a Welsh pastor and author. He served with G. Campbell Morgan at London’s Westminster Chapel for many years. Lloyd-Jones also authored many books including From Fear to Faith and Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Martin Luther; 1483-1546 (February 7, 22, March 5, April 11, May 17, August 13, November 11, December 24) was a German priest whose belief that Christians were saved by faith alone ushered in the Reformation. George Macdonald; 1824-1905 (January 27, March 12, May 22, June 3, September 11, 30, November 12, 25, December 3) was a Scottish writer whose books of the late nineteenth century rivaled those of Charles Dickens in popularity. The recent reissue of many of his books in edited editions has spawned renewed interest in Macdonald. Alexander Maclaren; 1826-1910 (January 6, 18, March 3, April 14, June 25) was a popular British Baptist clergyman who served for forty-five years as pastor of Union Chapel, Manchester. Ian Maclaren; 1850-1907 (January 30) was the pen name of Ian Watson, a Liverpool Presbyterian minister and writer. Horace Mann; 1796-1859 (January 21) was a lifelong educator and trainer of teachers. He also served in the Massachussetts legislature and was the author of several books. 220 / 365 WWJD?

Brennan Manning (October 2) is a popular retreat and conference speaker and author of several books including The Ragamuffin Gospel and Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging. Martin of Braga; (April 29) was one of the Iberian fathers from the early Middle Ages. Henry Martyn; 1781-1812 (June 7) was called to be an Anglican missionary after reading the life of American missionary David Brainerd. Like Brainerd, Martyn died young. Taking ill in Persia, the young minister started to return home England to the young woman he hoped to marry. He died en route. Robert Murray McCheyne; 1813-1843 (October 14) was a Scottish minister who, though he died at the age of thirty, is still remembered for his memoirs, which were compiled by Andrew Bonar. Henrietta Mears; 1890-1963 (April 5, May 11) was a leading figure in Christian education in the twentieth century. For many years she taught Sunday school at the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood. Disatisfied with the Sunday school curriculum available, she founded Gospel Light Publications, where she designed and published her own curriculum. Thomas Merton; 1915-1968 (December 26) was a poet, mystic, and writer whose moving account of his decision to enter a Trappist Monastery is told in his classic book The Seven Storey Mountain. F(rederick) B(rotherton) Meyer; (February 14, May 15, June 29, July 19) was the author of more than seventy books and a popular London preacher who fought the forces of immorality in early-twentieth-century Britain. Michelangelo; 1475-1564 (November 5) was a renowned artist, poet, and sculptor who claimed God as his greatest influence. J(ames) R(ussell) Miller; 1840-1912 (January 1, March 6, April 21, May 19, August 14, September 21) was a Presbyterian pastor serving congregations in Illinois and Pennsylvania and a prolific writer at the end of the nineteenth century. Dwight Lyman Moody; 1837-1899 (January 24, February 25, May 3, 16, 30, July 5, 17, September 14, October 8, November 30) was one of the greatest evangelists of all time. The Moody Bible Institute in Chicago still trains students as a testament to Moody’s work. Lottie Moon; 1840-1912 (June 15) was a Southern belle from Virginia who joined her sister as a missionary in China where she worked as an itinerante evangelist. So closely did she identify with her people that, when in Japan in AUTHOR INDEX / 221

1912, she learned of the famines in China, she stopped eating herself and died of starvation. G(eorge) Campbell Morgan; 1863-1945 (December 16) was a respected pastor, Bible teacher, and writer of more than sixty books. George Mueller; 1805-1898 (May 9, June 28, July 11, 26) was active in the Plymouth Brethren movement, but most widely known for his work in establishing orphanages that were run totally by faith. He concluded his last worldwide mission tour at the age of eighty-seven. Malcolm Muggeridge; 1903-1990 (March 19) was a controversial British journalist, a hard-drinking philanderer and, finally, “St. Mugg,” an evangelical Catholic Christian, who wrote widely about his faith in numerous books including Jesus Rediscovered, and Chronicles of Wasted Time. Andrew Murray; 1828-1917 (February 17, 23, March 23) was a South African clergyman who strongly influenced the missionary movement to South Africa. Today he is largely remembered for his many devotional books, still in print and still strong sellers. Watchman Nee; 1903-1972 (November 20) was a leader of the Chinese indigenous church during the early part of the twentieth century. He spent his last years as a prisoner of the Chinese Communists. John Henry Newman; 1801-1890 (January 31, February 9, March 9) was an English clergyman who fought against what he perceived as the liberalism of the church in his age. Sir Isaac Newton; 1642-1727 (June 12) was an English mathematician and Christian thinker. John Newton; 1725-1807 (December 11) was the master of a slave ship before his conversion to Christ, after which he became an Anglican clergyman and hymn writer, best remembered today for “Amazing Grace.” Florence Nightingale; 1820-1910 (April 18) was an English hospital reformer. She founded a school for the training of nurses at St. Thomas’s and at King’s College Hospital. Henri Nouwen; 1932-1996 (December 15) was born in the Netherlands, ordained as a priest in 1957, and taught pastoral theology at the Divinity School at Yale University beginning in 1972. Unsatisfied with his academic career, Nouwen’s life changed forever after his trip to the L’Arche community of Trosly, in France; one of several worldwide communities where mentally handicapped people live together with their assistants. Deeply moved, Nouwen left the academic world and spent the last decade of his life as priest at the L’Arche community 222 / 365 WWJD?

of Richmond Hill, near Toronto. Nouwen authored many popular books including The Wounded Healer and Here and Now: Living in the Spirit. Origen; c. 185-254 (April 7) was an early church father from Alexandria. Blaise Pascal; 1623-1662 (December 2) was a French mathematician, scientist and Christian apologist. His best known work was published after his death as Pensées (“Thoughts”). Louis Pasteur; 1822-1895 (March 26) was a French chemist. Patrick; c.3 90-c. 461 (March 17) was a missionary to Ireland whose popularity spawned many legends, such as his expelling snakes from Ireland. Though never formally canonized, today he is popularly thought of as “St.” Patrick. Ruth Paxson; ?-1949 (July 29, October 22, December 9) was a gifted Bible teacher and author of several books on the Christian life, including Life on the Highest Plane. William Penn; 1644-1718 (February 21, April 19, October 1, November 6) was a Quaker leader and the founder of Pennsylvania. Jessie Penn-Lewis; 1861-1927 (November 20) was a forceful Christian worker in the early part of the twentieth century. She wrote widely and served as editor of The Overcomer one of the early deeper-life magazines. J. C. Penney; 1875-1971 (July 12) was a noted businessman who founded the Golden Rule Stores, which eventually became the chain of department stores bearing his name. He was a devout Christian and wrote of his experiences in books such as Lines of a Layman and Fifty Years with the Golden Rule. Eugene Peterson (June 6) has been a pastor, teacher, and author of several books including A Long Obedience in the Same Direction and Traveling Light. He’s also the editor of the highly acclaimed The Message Bible. Mike Phillips; 1946- (September 17) is the author of many best-selling books, both fiction and non-fiction. He’s an authority on writer George Macdonald and has edited many of the Scottish author’s books for modern readers. John Piper; 1946- (February 3, May 24, July 28, October 12) is the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and the author of Desiring God and The Pleasures of God. Francis Quarles; 1592-1644 (February 8) was an English poet and Anglican churchman. Leonard Ravenhill; (March 28, September 15) has taught widely on revival and the Christian life. His books include Revival Praying and Why Revival Tarries.

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F(ederick) W(illiam) Robertson; 1816-1852 (July 30) was a British preacher who ministered primarily to the working class. Unorthodox in some of his views, Robertson nonetheless influenced many with his zeal for those unreached by traditional methods of ministry. Dale Evans Rogers; 1912- (December 25) is a popular speaker, writer, television personality, and with her husband, Roy Rogers, star of many motion pictures. Samuel Rutherford; 1600-1661 (October 5) was the son of a Scottish farmer who became an influential minister and writer. Nate Saint; ?-1956 (April 13) was one of the five missionaries killed by the Auca Indians of Ecuador in 1956. Edith Schaeffer; 1914- (October 13) was born in China to missionary parents. As an adult, Mrs. Schaeffer was instrumental, along with her husband, Francis, in establishing L’Abri Fellowship in Huemoz, Switzerland, a Christian community through which many young people gained a clear understanding of the Christian faith. Mrs. Schaeffer is the author of several books including, The Gift of Art and Tapestry. Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) (September 2) was a Presbyterian minister who, in 1955, along with his wife, Edith, founded L’Abri, an international study and ministry community in the Swiss Alps. During the next several years many young adults found Christ through the ministry of L’Abri. Schaeffer wrote many books, still widely read including Escape from Reason, He Is There and He Is Not Silent, and The God Who Is There. Sextus; (March 7, June 24, October 10) was an early Christian writer. A(lbert) B(enjamin) Simpson; 1844-1919 (May 13) was a popular evangelist of the nineteenth century and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance church. Sadhu Sundar Singh; 1889-1929 (August 21, November 2) was raised as a Hindu, but had a dramatic conversion to Christianity, after which he traveled on foot as a “holy man” preaching to remote villages in India and Tibet. Mary Slessor; 1848-1915 (January 25) was a Scottish missionary to West Africa. Lewis Smedes; (April 9) is professor of philosophy at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology in Pasadena, California, and the author of several books, including Forgive and Forget and A Pretty Good Person. Hannah Whitall Smith; 1832-1911 (February 18, March 25, October 3, November 27) was raised a Quaker but was more closely associated with the Brethren and the Keswick movement, of which she was part from the beginning. Her clas

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sic book The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life is one of the best-selling Christian books of all time. James Bryan Smith; (January 4, April 27, September 25) works with author Richard Foster in the RENOVARE organization and is the author of Embracing the Love of God. Charles Haddon Spurgeon; 1834-1892 (January 3, April 1, 22, 30, May 6, July 10, October 2, 23, November 9, December 5) was a British Baptist preacher and a prolific writer. Ray Stedman; 1917-1992 (April 10, June 2) was a highly respected pastor and author. For many years he served at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California. J(ames) B(utler) Stoney; 1814-1897 (June 14, August 27) was a prolific and popular writer for the Brethren movement of the nineteenth century. Harriet Beecher Stowe; 1811-1896 (April 26) was an ardent abolitionist and writer most noted for her classic work Uncle Tom’s Cabin. C(harles) T(homas) Studd; 1860-1931 (November 23) was an English missionary to China, India, and Africa. William (“Billy”) Ashley Sunday; 1862-1935 (March 21) was born in Iowa and converted as a young adult at the famed Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. He eventually became one of the foremost evangelists of the early twentieth century. Charles Swindoll; (September 18) serves as president of Dallas Theological Seminary. He’s also the Bible teacher on “Insight for Living,” a radio broadcast ministry aired daily worldwide and the author of many bestselling books including Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life. Tatian; died c. 180 (September 16) was an early Christian apologist who was later associated with Gnosticism. (James) Hudson Taylor; 1832-1905 (February 29, March 13) was one of the most well-known missionaries in the history of the Christian church. Founder of the China Inland Mission, Taylor is also noted for the classic book Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Jeremy Taylor; 1613-1667 (January 8, May 27, October 16) was an Anglican bishop and author whose beautiful style of writing led him to be known as the “Shakespeare of English divines.” Corrie Ten Boom; 1892-1983 (October 30) was a rescuer of Jews in her native Holland. Arrested with her family for their illegal activities, she endured the atrocities of German prison camp and, after the war, traveled the world retelling her experiences of God’s love in the midst of the horrors of war. Her book The Hiding Place continues in wide circulation.

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Teresa of Avila; 1515-1582 (January 5) was a Spanish mystic and founder of a reformed Carmelite order. Her books, which include Autobiography and Interior Castle, are still widely read. Tertullian; c. 160-225 (May 20, September 10) was trained to be a lawyer, but in his late thirties became a Christian and was a respected teacher in the church at Carthage. Mother Teresa of Calcutta; 1910-1997 (January 14, October 7) was the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to helping India’s “poorest of the poor.” Mother Teresa won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. W. H. Griffith Thomas; 1861-1924 (July 24, November 7) was a noted Bible teacher, preacher, lecturer, and writer of devotional commentaries. Thomas à Kempis; 1380-1471 (April 4, May 1, 28, August 6, 26, September 7, 28, December 28) was the author of many devotional books, including the classic The Imitation of Christ. Augustus Toplady; 1740-1778 (April 23) was an English clergyman and hymn writer best known for “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me.” R(euben) A(rcher) Torrey; 1856-1928 (February 26) was a Congregationalist minister and colleague of Dwight L. Moody. A(iden) W(ilson) Tozer; 1897-1963 (January 19, 22, March 15, 26, April 24, September 12, October 29, November 10) was a popular Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor and writer. Dawson Trotman; 1906-1956 (August 5) was a leader in developing an effective witnessing and follow-up system that continues to be widely used today. In 1933 “Daws” founded The Navigators ministry, now based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mark Twain; 1835-1910 (October 21) was a popular American humorist and author. His best known books include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Life on the Mississippi. Thomas Upham; 1799-1872 (July 27) was a Congregationalist writer who became attracted to the nineteenth-century holiness movement, which, at that time, was largely Methodist. His writings include a comprehensive biography of Madame Guyon. Henry Van Dyke; 1852-1933 (October 6, November 21) was an American minister and writer, mostly remembered for his book The Other Wise Man and for writing the words to the hymn, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.”

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François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire; 1694-1778 (March 29) was a French philosopher and critic of Christianity. Wernher von Braun; 1912-1977 (March 26) was a German-American rocket engineer, considered by many to be the “father of space travel.” Izaak Walton; 1593-1683 (December 6) was an English writer and biographer, best known for his treatise on fishing, The Compleat Angler. John Wesley; 1703-1791 (January 9, July 25, August 19) was an English evangelist and co-founder of Methodism. George Whitefield; 1714-1770 (January 9, 28, March 27) was an English clergyman, colleague of John Wesley, and one of the best-known evangelists of all time. He’s credited with playing a major role in the American revival known as the Great Awakening. A. D. T. Whitney; (December 31) was a nineteenth-century clergyman. Alexander Whyte; 1836-1921 (December 8) was a powerful orater and Scottish minister. Warren Wiersbe (October 11) is a popular author, speaker, and former pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. He has been affiliated with the Back to the Bible Broadcast, Youth For Christ, Moody Monthly magazine, and the National Religious Broadcasters, of which he is a board member. William Wilberforce; 1759-1833 (March 5, May 2) was an English reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and philanthropist. Dallas Willard; (February 1, 20, June 8, November 15) is professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Philosophy and the author of The Spirit of the Disciplines and The Divine Conspiracy. John Wooden; 1910-(June 20) is the former basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins, a team he took from defeat to a string of winning seasons. This sports legend’s story is told in his book, They Call Me Coach.

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PERMISSIONS The editor and publisher of 365 WWJD? Daily Answers to “What Would Jesus Do?” wish to thank the following publishers and individuals for permission to use materials from their books: Abingdon E. Stanley Jones quote (January 7, December 4) and Eric Liddell quotes (March 2, November 14) reprinted courtesy of Abingdon Press. Baker Book House (November 22) Taken from Beside the Still Waters by Vance Havner. Copyright © Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Book House Company. Used by permission. (April 25) Taken from Letters by a Modern Mystic by Frank Laubach. Copyright © Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Book House Company. Used by permission. (December 25) Taken from The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations by Frank S. Mead. Copyright © 1965 Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Book House Company. Used by permission. Bantam Doubleday Dell (December 15) Excerpted from The Road to Daybreak by Henri Nouwen, reprinted with permission of Bantam Doubleday Dell. Bethany House Publishers (September 17) Taken from Good Things to Remember by Mike Phillips. Copyright © 1993, Bethany House Publishers. (December 18) Taken from Forever Triumphant by F. J. Huegel. Copyright © 1955 Bethany House Publishers. Available from your local Christian bookstore or call 800-328-6109. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (June 18) Taken from “Go…in the Power God Gives Us,” by Billy Graham, Decision magazine, June 1991, © 1991 Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, used by permission, all rights reserved. Christian Literature Crusade (November 19) Amy Wilson Carmichael, used by permission, Christian Literature Crusade.

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Christian Publications (January 19) Taken from The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer; page 44. Used by permission. (January 22) Taken from That Incredible Christian by A. W. Tozer; page 136. Used by permission. (March 15) Taken from Gems from Tozer by A. W. Tozer; page 7. Used by permission. (March 26) Taken from Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer; page 13. Used by permission. (April 24) Taken from Renewed Day by Day, Volume 2 by A. W. Tozer; August 3. Used by permission. (September 12) Taken from Renewed Day by Day, Volume 1 by A. W. Tozer; June 4. Used by permission. (November 10) Taken from Worship: The Missing Jewel by A. W. Tozer; page 11. Used by permission. Crossway Books (September 20) D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Copyright © Crossway Books. Used by permission. (October 13) Edith Schaeffer. Taken from The Gift of Art. Copyright © Crossway Books. Used by permission. Discovery House Publishers (March 18, November 8) Taken from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Copyright © 1935 by Dodd Mead & Co., renewed © 1963 by the Oswald Chambers Publications Assn., Ltd., and is used by permission of Discovery House Publishers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501. All rights reserved. (September 13) Taken from The Highest Good by Oswald Chambers. Copyright © 1938, 1940, 1992 by the Oswald Chambers Publications Assn., Ltd. Used by permission of Discovery House Publishers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501. All rights reserved. Discovery Publishing (April 10, June 2) Quotes are reprinted from Man of Faith by Ray C. Stedman. Copyright © 1986. Reprinted by permission of Discovery Publishing, the publications ministry of Peninsula Bible Church, 3505 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, California 94306 USA. Pages 121-122, 136. The Door (June 6) Taken from an interview with Eugene Peterson. Copyright © 1991. The Door magazine. Used by permission.

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Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (September 23, December 17) William Barclay. A Spiritual Autobiography. Copyright © 1977. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Farrar, Straus & Giroux (December 26) Taken from The Springs of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Used by permission. Gospel Light (April 5, May 11) Henrietta Mears quotes reprinted courtesy of Gospel Light Publications. Harcourt Brace & Company (December 21) Excerpts from Poems by C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 1964 by the Executors of the Estate of C. S. Lewis and renewed 1992 by C. S. Lewis Pte, Ltd. reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace and Company. (October 15) Excerpt from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by C. S. Lewis, copyright © 1964, 1963, by C. S. Lewis PTE Ltd and renewed 1992, 1991 by Arthur Owen Barfield, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace and Company. Harold Ober Associates (March 19) Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated. Copyright © 1969 by Malcolm Muggeridge. HarperCollins Publishers Excerpts as submitted from Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard. Copyright © 1982 by Annie Dillard. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from Shadow of the Almighty: The Life & Testament of Jim Elliot by Elisabeth Elliot. Copyright © 1958 by Elisabeth Elliot. Introduction copyright © 1989 by Elisabeth Elliot. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard J. Foster. Copyright © 1978 by Richard J. Foster. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster. Copyright © 1992 by Richard J. Foster. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from Just As I Am by Billy Graham. Copyright © 1997 by Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

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Excerpts as submitted from A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly. Copyright © 1941 by Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. Renewed 1969 by Lois Lael Kelly Stabler. New introduction Copyright © 1992 by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from God’s Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd. Copyright © 1987 by Guideposts Associates, Inc. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd. Copyright © 1990 by Sue Monk Kidd. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from Shame and Grace by Lewis B. Smedes. Copyright © 1993 by Lewis B. Smedes. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from Embracing the Love of God: The Path of Promise of Christian Life by James Bryan Smith. Copyright © 1995 by James Bryan Smith. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer, and The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in The Christian by A. W. Tozer. Copyright © 1961 by Aiden Wilson Tozer. Copyright renewed. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. Copyright © 1998 by Dallas Willard. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Excerpts as submitted from The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard. Copyright © 1989 by Dallas Willard. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. InterVarsity Press (September 2) Francis Schaeffer quote taken from “The Mark of the Christian.” Copyright © InterVarsity Press. Used by permission. Leadership Journal (October 11) Warren Wiersbe quote. Copyright © 1994 by Leadership. Used by permission. Moody Press (February 27) Taken from Escaping the Time Crunch by Mark Littleton. Copyright © by Mark Littleton. Moody Press. Used by permission.

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Multnomah Press (February 3, May 24, July 28, October 12) Excerpted from The Pleasures of God by John Piper. Multnomah Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 1991 by John Piper. Used by permission. Servant Publications (October 7) Mother Teresa quote reprinted from Mother Teresa: Comtemplative in the Heart of the World. Reprinted as Total Surrender, compiled by Angelo Devananda. Copyright © 1985. Used by permission. Tyndale House (June 1) Taken from When God Doesn’t Make Sense by James Dobson. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House Scripture taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version, NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. (October 2) Taken from More Hot Illustrations For Youth Talks by Wayne Rice. Copyright © 1995 by Youth Specialties, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Individuals (February 16, April 15) Clyde S. Kilby quotes courtesy of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. Copyright © 1998. (February 19) Reprinted courtesy of Reverend E. V. Hill. (May 7) Reprinted courtesy of Jill Briscoe. (June 20) Reprinted courtesy of John Wooden. (August 12) Reprinted courtesy of Mark Hatfield. (September 19) Reprinted courtesy of Howard Hendricks. (September 18) Reprinted from Strengthening Your Grip, courtesy of Charles Swindoll. Copyright © 1990. Used by permission. (November 15) Reprinted from Studies in the Book of Apostolic Acts: Journey into the Spiritual Unknown by Dallas Willard. Reprinted courtesy of Dallas Willard. Note: The editor of this book has made every effort to contact the copyright holders of all readings in this book not clearly in the public domain. We offer apologies to any legitimate copyright holder whom we could not trace, and we encourage anyone holding an unacknowledged copyright to any of these readings to contact the editor, in care of Harper San Francisco, so that proper arrangements can be made.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS is the fruit of several faithful laborers. First, there was Cathie Lashinsky’s insight, which launched the project. Then came the fine editorial, production, and marketing skills of the Harper San Francisco team, the result of which can only lead to excellence. This team includes: Mark Chimsky, Patricia Klein, Terri Leonard, Steve Hanselman, Mark Tauber, and their many behind-the-scenes colleagues whose diligence made 365 WWJD? Daily Answers to “What Would Jesus Do?” possible. Finally, Reverend Charles M. Sheldon’s influence on this book must be acknowledged. His classic novel, In His Steps, published more than a century ago, has prompted several generations of Christians to ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” For that we all owe him profound thanks. THIS BOOK

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Excerpts from Charles M. Sheldon's In His Steps (1896) Author's Forward The story In His Steps was written in 1896, and it was read a chapter at a time to my young people, Sunday evenings in the Central Congregational Church, Topeka, Kansas. While it was being read it was being published in the Chicago Advance, a religious weekly, as a serial. The publisher did not know the conditions of the copyright law, and he filed only one copy of the advance each week with the department, instead of two, which the law required. On that account the copyright was defective, and the story was thrown into the "public domain" when the Advance Company put it out in a ten cent paper edition. Owing to the fact that no one had any legal ownership in the book, sixteen different publishers in America and fifty in Europe and Australia put out the book in various editions from an English penny to eight shillings. Mr. Bowden, the London publisher, sold over 3,000,000 copies of the penny edition on the streets of London. The book has been translated into twenty-one languages, including a Russian publication which was banned by the Soviet. A Turkish Translation in Arabic is permitted circulation by the government and is being read all over Turkey. The Story has been made into the drama form and is being used by groups of young church people and by college students. And while conditions have changed in the years since the story was written, the principle of human conduct remains the same. I do not need to say that I am very thankful that owing to the defective copyright the book has had a larger reading on account of the great number of publishers. I find readers in every part of the world where I go. And I am informed by the Publishers Weekly that the book has had more circulation than any other book except the Bible. If that is true, no one is more grateful than I am, as it confirms the faith I have always held that no subject is more interesting and vital to the human race than religion. May I be allowed to add a word of appreciation for the courtesy of the publishers of this authorized edition who through these years recognized the moral rights of the author and have kindly permitted him a share in the financial sales of the book. I hope for this edition a hearty and kindly welcome from the readers, old and young, who believe that in the end of human history Jesus will be the standard of human conduct for the entire human race. Charles M. Sheldon Topeka, Kansas, 1935 E-Book Extra / 234

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Chapter I. "For hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps." It was Friday morning and the Rev. Henry Maxwell was trying to finish his Sunday morning sermon. He had been interrupted several times and was growing nervous as the morning wore away, and the sermon grew very slowly toward a satisfactory finish. "Mary," he called to his wife, as he went upstairs after the last interruption, "if any one comes after this, I wish you would say I am very busy and cannot come down unless it is something very important." "Yes, Henry. But I am going over to visit the Kindergarten and you will have the house all to yourself." The minister went up into his study and shut the door. In a few minutes he heard his wife go out, and then everything was quiet. He settled himself at his desk with a sigh of relief and began to write. His text was from I Peter ii. 21. "For hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that ye should follow his steps." He had emphasized in the first part of the sermon the Atonement as a personal sacrifice, calling attention to the fact of Jesus' suffering in various ways, in His life as well as in His death. He had then gone on to emphasize the Atonement from the side of example, giving illustrations from the life and teachings of Jesus to show how faith in the Christ helped to save men because of the pattern or character He displayed for their imitation. He was now on the third and last point, the necessity of following Jesus in His sacrifice and example. He had put down "Three: Steps; What are they?" and was about to enumerate them in logical order when the bell rang sharply. It was one of those clock-work bells, and always went off as a clock might go if it tried to strike twelve all at once. Henry Maxwell sat at his desk and frowned a little. He made no movement to answer the bell. Very soon it rang again; then he rose and walked over to one of his windows which commanded the view of the front door. A man was standing on the steps. He was a young man, very shabbily dressed. E-Book Extra / 235

"Looks like a tramp," said the minister. "I suppose I'll have to go down and --" He did not finish his sentence but he went downstairs and opened the front door. There was a moment's pause as the two men stood facing each other, then the shabby-looking young man said: "I'm out of a job, sir, and thought maybe you might put me in the way of getting something." "I don't know of anything. Jobs are scarce." replied the minister, beginning to shut the door slowly. "I didn't know but you might perhaps be able to give me a line to the city railway or the superintendent of the shops, or something," continued the young man, shifting his faded hat from one hand to the other nervously. "It would be of no use. You will have to excuse me. I am very busy this morning. I hope you will find something. Sorry I can't give you something to do here; But I keep only a horse and a cow and do the work myself." The Rev. Henry Maxwell closed the door and heard the man walk down the steps. As he went up into his study he saw from his hall window that the man was going slowly down the street, still holding his hat between his hands. There was something in the figure so dejected, homeless, and forsaken, that the minister hesitated a moment as he stood looking at it. Then he turned to his desk and with a sigh began the writing where he had left off. He had no more interruptions, and when his wife came in two hours later the sermon was finished, the loose leaves gathered up and neatly tied together, and laid on his Bible all ready for the Sunday morning service. "A queer thing happened at the Kindergarten this morning, Henry," said his wife while they were eating dinner. "You know I went over with Mrs. Brown to visit the school, and just after the games, while the children were at the tables, the door opened and a young man came in holding a dirty hat in both hands. He sat down near the door and never said a word. Only looked at the children. He was evidently a tramp, and Miss Wren and her assistant, Miss Kyle, were a little frightened at first, but he sat there very quietly and after a few minutes he went out." "Perhaps he was tired and wanted to rest somewhere. The same man called here, I think. Did you say he looked like a tramp?" "Yes; very dusty, shabby and generally tramp-like. Not more than thirty or thirty-three years old, I should say." 236 / 365 WWJD?

"The same man," said the Rev. Henry Maxwell thoughtfully. "Did you finish your sermon, Henry?" his wife asked after a pause. "Yes, all done. It has been a very busy week with me. The two sermons have cost me a good deal of labor." "They will be appreciated by a large audience Sunday, I hope," replied his wife smiling. "What are you going to preach about in the morning?" "Following Christ. I take up the Atonement under the head of Sacrifice and Example, and then show the steps needed to follow his sacrifice and example." "I am sure it is a good sermon. I hope it won't rain Sunday. We have had so many stormy Sundays lately." "Yes, the audiences have been quite small for some time. People will not come out to church in a storm." The Rev. Henry Maxwell sighed as he said it. He was thinking of the careful, laborious effort he had made in preparing sermons for large audiences that failed to appear. But Sunday morning dawned on the town of Raymond one of the perfect days that sometimes come after long periods of wind and mud and rain. The air was clear and bracing, the sky was free from all threatening signs, and every one of Mr. Maxwell's parish prepared to go to church. When the service opened at eleven o'clock the large building was filled with an audience of the best-dressed. most comfortable looking people of Raymond. The First Church of Raymond believed in having the best music that money could buy, and its quartet choir this morning was a source of great pleasure to the congregation. The anthem was inspiring. All the music was in keeping with the subject of the sermon. And the anthem was an elaborate adaptation to the most modern music of the hymn, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow thee." Just before the sermon the soprano sang a solo, the well-known hymn, "Where He leads me I will follow, I'll go with Him, with Him, all the way." Rachel Winslow looked very beautiful that morning as she stood up behind the screen of carved oak which was significantly marked with the emblems of the cross and the crown. Her voice was even more beautiful than her face, and that meant a great deal. There was a general rustle of expectation over the audience as she rose. Mr. Maxwell settled himself contentedly behind the pulpit. Rachel Winslow's ringing always helped him. He generally arranged for a song before the sermon. It made possible a certain inspiration of feeling that made his delivery more impressive. People said to themselves they had never heard such singing even in the E-Book Extra / 237

First Church. It is certain that if it had not bee a church service, her solo would have been vigorously applauded. It even seemed to the minister when she sat down that something like an attempted clapping of hands or a striking of feet on the floor swept through the church. He was startled by it. As he rose, however, and laid his sermon on the Bible, he said to himself he had been deceived. Of course it could not occur. In a few moments he was absorbed in his sermon and everything else was forgotten in the pleasure of his delivery. No one had ever accused Henry Maxwell of being a dull preacher. On the contrary, he had often been charged with being sensational. Not in what he had said so much as in his way of saying it. But the First Church people liked that. It gave their preacher and their parish a pleasant distinction that was agreeable. It was also true that the pastor of the First Church loved to preach. He seldom exchanged. He was eager to be in his own pulpit when Sunday came. There was an exhilarating half hour for him as he faced a church full of people and knew that he had a hearing. He was peculiarly sensitive to variations in the attendance. He never preached well before a small audience. The weather also affected him decidedly. He was at his best before just such an audience as faced him now, on just such a morning. He felt a glow of satisfaction as he went on. The church was the first in the city. It had the best choir. It had a membership composed of the leading people, representatives of the wealth, society and intelligence of Raymond, He was going abroad on a three months' vacation In the summer, and the circumstances of his pastorate, his influence, and his position as pastor of the first church of the city--It is not certain that the Rev. Henry Maxwell knew just how he could carry on all that thought in connection with his sermon, but as he drew near the end of it he knew that he had at some point in his delivery had all those feelings. They had entered into the very substance of his thought; it might have been all in a few seconds of time, but he had been conscious of defining his position and his emotions as well as if he had held a soliloquy, and his delivery partook of the thrill of deep personal satisfaction. The sermon was interesting. It was full of striking sentences. They would have commanded attention printed. Spoken with the passion of a dramatic utterance that had the good taste never to offend with a suspicion of ranting or declamation, they were very effective. If the Rev. Henry Maxwell that morning felt satisfied with the conditions of his pastorate, the First Church also had a similar feeling as it congratulated itself on the presence in the pulpit of this scholarly, refined, somewhat striking face and figure, preaching with such animation and freedom from all vulgar, noisy or disagreeable mannerism. 238 / 365 WWJD?

Suddenly, into the midst of this perfect accord and concord between preacher and audience, there came a very remarkable interruption. It would be difficult to indicate the extent of the shock which this interruption measured. It was so unexpected, so entirely contrary to any thought of any person present that it offered no room for argument or, for the time being, of resistance. The sermon had come to a close. Mr. Maxwell had just turned the half of the big Bible over upon his manuscript and was about to sit down as the quartet prepared to arise to sing the closing selection, "All for Jesus, all for Jesus, All my being's ransomed powers," when the entire congregation was startled by the sound of a man's voice. It came from the rear of the church, from one of the seats under the gallery. The next moment the figure of a man came out of the shadow there and walked down the middle aisle. Before the startled congregation fairly realized what was going on the man had reached the open space in front of the pulpit and had turned about facing the people. "I've been wondering since I came in here" -- they were the words he used under the gallery, and he repeated them -- "if it would be just the thing to say a word at the close of the service. I'm not drunk and I'm not crazy, and I am perfectly harmless; but if I die, as there is every likelihood I shall in a few days, I want the satisfaction of thinking that I said my say in a place like this, and before this sort of a crowd." Mr. Maxwell had not taken his seat, and he now remained standing, leaning on his pulpit, looking down at the stranger. It was the man who had come to his house the Friday before, the same dusty, worn, shabby-looking young man. He his faded hat in his two hands. It seemed to be a favorite gesture. He had not been shaved and his hair was rough and tangled. It is doubtful if any one like this had ever confronted the First Church within the sanctuary. It was tolerably familiar with this sort of humanity out on the street, around railroad shops, wandering up and down the avenue; but it had never dreamed of such an incident as this so near. There was nothing offensive in the man's manner or tone. He was not excited and he spoke in a low but distinct voice. Mr. Maxwell was conscious, even as he stood there smitten into dumb astonishment at the event, that somehow the man's action reminded him of a person he had once seen walking and talking in his sleep. No one in the house made any motion to stop the stranger or in any way interrupt him. Perhaps the first shock of his sudden appearance deepened into a genuine perplexity concerning what was best to do. However that E-Book Extra / 239

may be, he went on as if he had no thought of interruption and no thought of the unusual element which he had introduced into the decorum of the First Church service. And all the while he was speaking, the minister leaned over the pulpit, his face growing more white and sad every moment. But he made no move to stop him, and the people sat smitten into breathless silence. One other face, that of Rachel Winslow, from the choir, stared white and intent down at the shabby figure with the faded hat. Her face was striking at any time. Under the pressure of the present unheard-of incident, it was as personally distinct as if it had been framed in fire. "I'm not an ordinary tramp, though I don't know of any teaching of Jesus that makes one kind of a tramp less worth saving than another. Do you?" He put the question as naturally as if the whole congregation had been a small Bible class. He paused just a moment and coughed painfully. Then he went on. "I lost my job ten months ago. I am a printer by trade. The new linotype machines are beautiful specimens of invention, but I know six men who have killed themselves inside of the year just on account of those machines. Of course I don't blame the newspapers for getting the machines. Meanwhile, what can a man do? I know I never learned but the one trade, and that's all I can do. I've tramped all over the country trying to find something. There are a good many others like me. I'm not complaining, am I? Just stating facts. But I was wondering as I sat there under the gallery, if what you call following Jesus is the same thing as what he taught. What did he mean when he said: 'Follow me?' The minister said" -- here the man turned about and looked up at the pulpit -- "that it is necessary for the disciple of Jesus to follow his steps, and he said the steps were obedience, faith, love and imitation. But I did not hear him tell you just what he meant that to mean, especially the last step. What do you Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus? I've tramped through this city for three days trying to find a job; and in all that time I've not had a word of sympathy or comfort except from your minister here, who said he was sorry for me and hoped I would find a job somewhere. I suppose it is because you get so imposed on by the professional tramp that you have lost your interest in the other sort. I'm not blaming anybody, am I? Just stating facts. Of course, I understand you can't all go out of your way to hunt jobs for people like me. I'm not asking you to, but what I feel puzzled about is, what is meant by following Jesus? What do you mean when you sing 'I'll go with him, with him, all the way?' Do you mean that you are suffering and denying yourselves and trying to save lost, suffering humanity just as I understand Jesus did? What do you mean by it? I see the ragged edge of things a good deal. I understand there are more than five hundred men in this city in my case. Most of them have families. My wife died four months ago. I'm glad she is out of trouble. My little girl is staying with a printer's family until I 240 / 365 WWJD?

find a job. Somehow I get puzzled when I see so many Christians living in luxury and singing 'Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow thee,' and remember how my wife died in a tenement in New York City, gasping for air and asking God to take the little girl too. Of course I don't expect you people can prevent every one from dying of starvation, lack of proper nourishment, and tenement air, but what does following Jesus mean? I understand that Christian people own a good many of the tenements. A member of a church was the owner of the one where my wife died, and I have wondered if following Jesus all the way was true in his case. I heard some people singing at a church prayer meeting the other night, 'All for Jesus, all for Jesus, All my being's ransomed powers, All my thoughts, and all my doings, All my days, and all my hours,' and I kept wondering as I sat on the steps outside just what they meant by it. It seems to me there's an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn't exist if all the people who sing such songs went and lived them out. I suppose I don't understand. But what would Jesus do? Is that what you mean by following his steps? It seems to me sometimes as if the people in the big churches had good clothes and nice houses to live in, and money to spend for luxuries, and could go away on summer vacations and all that, while the people outside the churches, thousands of them, I mean, die in tenements, and walk the streets for jobs, and never have a piano or a picture in the house, and grow up in misery and drunkenness and sin." The man suddenly gave a queer lurch over in the direction of the communion table and laid one grimy hand on it. His hat fell upon the carpet at his feet. A stir went through the congregation. Dr. West half rose from his pew, but as yet the silence was unbroken by any voice or movement worth mentioning in the audience. The man passed his other hand across his eyes, and then, without any warning, fell heavily forward on his face, full length, up the aisle. Henry Maxwell spoke, "We will consider the service closed." He was down the pulpit stairs and kneeling by the prostrate form before any one else. The audience instantly rose and the aisles were crowded. Dr. West pronounced the man alive. He had fainted away. "Some heart trouble," the doctor also muttered as he helped carry him out into the pastor's study. ~

Chapter II. Henry Maxwell and a group of his church members remained some time E-Book Extra / 241

in the study. The man lay on the couch there and breathed heavily. When the question of what to do with him came up, the minister insisted on taking the man to his own house. He lived near by and had an extra room. Rachel Winslow said: "Mother has no company at present. I am sure we would be glad to give him a place with us." She looked strongly agitated. No one noticed it particularly. They were all excited over the strange event, the strangest that First Church people could remember. But the minister insisted on taking charge of the man, and, when a carriage came, the unconscious but living form was carried to his house, and with the entrance of that humanity into the minister's spare room a new chapter in Henry Maxwell's life began, and yet no one, himself least of all, dreamed of the remarkable change it was destined to make in all his after definition of the Christian discipleship. The event created a great sensation in the First Church parish. People talked of nothing else for a week. It was the general impression that the man had wandered into the church in a condition of mental disturbance caused by his troubles, and that all the time he was talking he was in a strange delirium of fever and really ignorant of his surroundings. That was the most charitable construction to put upon his action; it was the general agreement also that there was a singular absence of anything bitter or complaining in what the man had said. He had, throughout, spoken in a mild, apologetic tone, almost as if he were one of the congregation seeking for light on a very difficult subject. The third day after his removal to the minister's house there was a marked change in his condition. The doctor spoke of it but offered no hope. Saturday morning he still lingered, although he had rapidly failed as the week drew near its close. Sunday morning, just before the clock struck one, he rallied and asked if his child had come. The minister had sent for her at once as soon as he had been able to secure her address from some letters found in the man's pocket. He had been conscious and able to talk coherently only a few moments since his attack. "The child is coming. She will be here," Mr. Maxwell said as he sat there, his face showing marks of the strain of the week's vigil. For he had insisted on sitting up nearly every night. "I shall never see her in this world," the man whispered. Then he uttered with great difficulty the words, "You have been good to me. Somehow I feel as if it was what Jesus would do." After a few minutes he turned his head slightly, and before Mr. Maxwell could realize the fact, the doctor said quietly, "He is gone." The Sunday morning that dawned on the city of Raymond was exactly like the Sunday of a week before. Mr. Maxwell entered his pulpit to face one of the largest congregations that had ever crowded the First Church. He was haggard and looked as if he had just risen from a long illness. His wife 242 / 365 WWJD?

was at home with the little girl, who had come on the morning train an hour after her father had died. He lay in that spare room, his troubles over, and the minister could see the face as he opened the Bible and arranged his different notices on the side of the desk as he had been in the habit of doing for ten years. The service that morning contained a new element. No one could remember when Henry Maxwell had preached in the morning without notes. As a matter of fact he had done so occasionally when he first entered the ministry, but for a long time he had carefully written every word of his morning sermon, and nearly always his evening discourse as well. It cannot be said that his sermon this morning was striking or impressive. He talked with considerable hesitation. It was evident that some great idea struggled in his thought for utterance, but it was not expressed in the theme he had chosen for his preaching. It was near the close of his sermon that he began to gather a certain strength that had been painfully lacking at the beginning. He closed the Bible and, stepping out at the side of the desk, faced his people and began to talk to them about the remarkable scene of the week before. "Our brother," somehow the words sounded a little strange coming from his lips, "passed away this morning. I have not yet had time to learn all his history. He had one sister in Chicago. I have written her and have not yet received an answer. His little girl is with us and will remain for the time." He paused and looked over the house. He thought he had never seen so many earnest faces during his entire pastorate. He was not able yet to tell his people his experience, the crisis through which he was even now moving. But some of his feeling passed from him to them, and it did not seem to him that he was acting under a careless impulse at all to go on and break to them this morning something of the message he bore in his heart. So he went on. "The appearance and words of this stranger in the church last Sunday made a very powerful impression on me. I am not able to conceal from you or myself the fact that what he said, followed as it has been by his death in my house, has compelled me to ask as I never asked before, 'What does following Jesus mean?' I am not in a position yet to utter any condemnation of this people or, to a certain extent, of myself, either in our Christlike relations to this man or the numbers that he represents in the world. But all that does not prevent me from feeling that much that the man said was so vitally true that we must face it in an attempt to answer it or else stand condemned as Christian disciples. A good deal that was said here last Sunday was in the nature of a challenge to Christianity as it is seen and felt in our churches. I have felt this with increasing emphasis every day since. And I do not know that any time is more appropriate than the present for E-Book Extra / 243

me to propose a plan, or a purpose, which has been forming in my mind as a satisfactory reply to much that was said here last Sunday." Again Henry Maxwell paused and looked into the faces of his people. There were some strong, earnest men and women in the First Church. He could see Edward Norman, editor of the Raymond "Daily News." He had been a member of the First Church for ten years. No man was more honored in the community. There was Alexander Powers, superintendent of the great railroad shops in Raymond, a typical railroad man, one who had been born into the business. There sat Donald Marsh, president of Lincoln College, situated in the suburbs of Raymond. There was Milton Wright, one of the great merchants of Raymond, having in his employ at least one hundred men in various shops. There was Dr. West, who, although still comparatively young, was quoted as authority in special surgical cases. There was young Jasper Chase, the author, who had written one successful book, and was said to be at work on a new novel. There was Miss Virginia Page, the heiress, who through the recent death of her father had inherited a million, at least, and was gifted with unusual attractions of person and intellect. And not least of all, Rachel Winslow, from her seat in the choir, glowed with her peculiar beauty of light this morning because she was so intensely interested in the whole scene. There was some reason, perhaps, in view of such material in the First Church, for Henry Maxwell's feeling of satisfaction whenever he considered his parish as he had the previous Sunday. There was an unusually large number of strong individual characters who claimed membership there. But as he noted their faces this morning he was simply wondering how many of them would respond to the strange proposition he was about to make. He continued slowly, taking time to choose his words carefully, and giving the people an impression they had never felt before, even when he was at his best with his most dramatic delivery. "What I am going to propose now is something which ought not to appear unusual or at all impossible of execution. Yet I am aware that it will be so regarded by a large number, perhaps, of the members of this church. But in order that we may have a thorough understanding of what we are considering, I will put my proposition very plainly, perhaps bluntly. I want volunteers from the First Church who will pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?' And after asking that question, each one will follow Jesus as exactly as he knows how, no matter what the result may be. I will of course include myself in this company of volunteers, and shall take for granted that my church here will not be surprised at my future conduct, as based upon this standard of action, and will not oppose whatever is done if they think Christ would do it. Have I made my meaning clear? At the close of the service I want all those members who are willing 244 / 365 WWJD?

to join such a company to remain and we will over the details of the plan. Our motto will be, 'What would Jesus do?' Our aim will be to act just as he would if he in our places, regardless of immediate results. In other words, we propose to follow Jesus' steps as closely and as literally as we believe he taught his disciples to do. And those who volunteer to do this will pledge themselves for an entire year, beginning with to-day, so to act." Henry Maxwell paused again and looked out over his people. It is not easy to describe the sensation that such a simple proposition apparently made. Men glanced at one another in astonishment. It was not like Henry Maxwell to define Christian discipleship in this way. There was evident confusion of thought over his proposition. It was understood well enough, but there was, apparently, a great difference of opinion as to the application of Jesus' teaching and example. He calmly closed the service with a brief prayer. The organist began his postlude immediately after the benediction and the people began to go out. There was a great deal of conversation. Animated groups stood all over the church discussing the minister's proposition. It was evidently provoking great discussion. After several minutes he asked all who expected to remain to pass into the lecture room, which joined the large room, on the side. He was himself detained at the front of the church talking with several persons there, and when he finally turned around, the church was empty. He walked over to the lecture room entrance and went in. He was almost startled to see the people who were there. He had not made up his mind about any of his members, but he had hardly expected that so many were ready to enter into such a literal testing of their Christian discipleship as now awaited him. There were perhaps fifty present. Among them Rachel Winslow and Virginia Page, Mr. Norman, President Marsh, Alexander Powers the railroad superintendent, Milton Wright, Dr. West and Jasper Chase. He closed the door of the lecture room and went and stood before the little group. His face was pale and his lips trembled with genuine emotion. It was to him a genuine crisis in his own life and that of his parish. No man can tell until he is moved by the Divine Spirit what he may do, or how he may change the current of a lifetime of fixed habits of thought and speech and action. Henry Maxwell did not, as we have said, yet know himself all that he was passing through, but he was conscious of a great upheaval in his definition of Christian discipleship, and he was moved with a depth of feeling he could not measure as he looked into the faces of those men and women on this occasion. It seemed to him that the most fitting word to be spoken first was that of prayer. He asked them all to pray with him. And almost with the first syllable he uttered there was a distinct presence of the Spirit felt by them all. E-Book Extra / 245

As the prayer went on, this presence grew in power. They all felt it. The room was filled with it as plainly as if it had been visible. When the prayer closed there was a silence that lasted several moments. All the heads were bowed. Henry Maxwell's face was wet with tears. If an audible voice from heaven had sanctioned their pledge to follow the Master's steps, not one person present could have felt more certain of the divine blessing. And so the most serious movement ever started in the First Church of Raymond was begun. "We all understand," said he, speaking very quietly, "what we have undertaken to do. We pledge ourselves to do everything thing in our daily lives after asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?' regardless of what may be the result to us. Some time I shall be able to tell you what a marvelous change has come over my life within a week's time. I cannot now. But the experience I have been through since last Sunday has me so dissatisfied with my previous definition of Christian discipleship that I have been compelled to take this action. I did not dare begin it alone. I know that I am being led by the hand of divine love in all this. The same divine impulse must have led you also. Do we understand fully what we have undertaken?" "I want to ask a question," said Rachel Winslow. Everyone turned towards her. Her face glowed with a beauty that no physical loveliness could ever create. "I am a little in doubt as to the source of our knowledge concerning what Jesus would do. Who is to decide for me just what He would do in my case? It is a different age. There are many perplexing questions in our civilization that are not mentioned in the teachings of Jesus. How am I going to tell what He would do?" "There is no way that I know of," replied the pastor, "except as we study Jesus through the medium of the Holy Spirit. You remember what Christ said speaking to His disciples about the Holy Spirit: "'Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come. He shall guide you into all the truth; for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, there shall He speak; and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me; for He shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that He taketh of mine and shall declare it unto you.' "There is no other test that I know of. We shall all have to decide what Jesus would do after going to that source of knowledge." "What if others say of us, when we do certain things, that Jesus would not do so?" asked the superintendent of railroads.

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"We cannot prevent that. But we must be absolutely honest with ourselves. The standard of Christian action cannot vary in most of our acts." "And yet what one church member thinks Jesus would do, another refuses to accept as His probable course of action. What is to render our conduct uniformly Christlike? Will it be possible to reach the same conclusions always in all cases?" asked President Marsh. Mr. Maxwell was silent some time. Then he answered: "No; I don't know that we can expect that. But when it comes to a genuine, honest, enlightened following of Jesus' steps, I cannot believe there will be any confusion either in our own minds or in the judgment of others. We must be free from fanaticism on one hand and too much caution on the other. If Jesus' example is the example for the world to follow, it certainly must be feasible to follow it. But we need to remember this great fact. After we have asked the Spirit to tell us what Jesus would do and have received an answer to it, we are to act regardless of the results to ourselves. Is that understood?" All the faces in the room were raised towards the minister in solemn assent. There was no misunderstanding the proposition. Henry Maxwell's face quivered again as he noted the president of the Endeavor Society, with several members, back of the older men and women. They remained a little longer talking over details and asking questions, and agreed to report to one another every week at a regular meeting the result of their experiences in following Jesus this way. Henry Maxwell prayed again. And again as before the Spirit made Himself manifest. Every head remained bowed a long time. They went away finally in silence. There was a feeling that prevented speech. The pastor shook hands with them all as they went out. Then he went in his own study room back of the pulpit and kneeled. He remained there alone nearly half an hour. When he went home, he went into the room where the dead body lay. As he looked at the face, he cried in his heart again for strength and wisdom. But not even yet did he realize that a movement had begun which would lead to the most remarkable series of events that the city of Raymond had ever known. ~

Chapter III. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Edward Norman, editor of the Raymond "Daily News," sat in his office room Monday morning and faced a new world of action. He had made his E-Book Extra / 247

pledge in good faith to do everything after asking "What would Jesus do?" and as he supposed with his eyes open to all the possible results. But as the regular life of the paper started on another week's rush and whirl of activity he confronted it with a degree of hesitation and a feeling nearly akin to fear. He had come down to the office very early and for a few minutes was by himself. He sat at his desk in a growing thoughtfulness that finally became a desire which he knew was as great as it was unusual. He had yet to learn, with all the others in that little company pledged to do the Christlike thing, that the Spirit of Life was moving in power through his own life as never before. He rose and shut his door, and then did what he had not done for years. He kneeled down by his desk and prayed for the divine presence and wisdom to direct him. He rose with the day before him, and his promise distinct and clear in his mind. "Now for action," he seemed to say. But he would be led by events as fast as they came on. He opened his door and began the routine of the of office work. The managing editor had just come in and was at his desk in the adjoining room. One of the reporters there was pounding out something on a typewriter. Edward Norman began to write an editorial. The "Daily News" was an evening paper, and Norman usually completed his leading editorial before nine o'clock. He had been writing for fifteen minutes when the managing editor called out, "Here's this press report of yesterday's prize fight at the Resort. It will make up three columns and a half. I suppose it all goes in?" Norman was one of those newspaper men who keep a eye on every detail of the paper. The managing editor always consulted his chief in matters of both small and large importance. Sometimes, as in this case, it was merely a nominal inquiry. "Yes -- No. Let me see it." He took the typewritten matter just as it came from the telegraph editor and ran over it carefully. Then he laid the sheets down on his desk and did some very hard thinking. "We won't run this to-day," he said finally. The managing editor was standing in the doorway between the two rooms. He was astounded at his chief's remark, thought he had perhaps misunderstood him. "What did you say?" "Leave it out. We won't use it." 248 / 365 WWJD?

"But --" The managing editor was simply dumfounded. He stared at Norman as if the man was out of his mind. "I think, Clark, that it ought to be printed, and that's the end of it," said Norman, looking up from his desk. Clark seldom had any words with the chief. His word always been law in the office and he had seldom been known to change his mind. The circumstances now, however, seemed to be so extraordinary that Clark could not help expressing himself. "Do you mean that the paper is to go to press without a word of the prize fight in it?" "Yes. That's what I mean." "But it's unheard of. All the other papers will print it. What will our subscribers say? Why, it is simply --" Clark paused, unable to find words to say what he thought. Norman looked at Clark thoughtfully. The managing editor was a member of a church of a different denomination from that of Norman's. The two men had never talked together on religious matters, although they had been associated on the paper for several years. "Come in here a minute, Clark, and shut the door," said Norman. Clark came in and the two men faced each other alone. Norman did not speak for a minute. Then he said abruptly: "Clark, if Christ was editor of a daily paper, do you honestly think He would print three columns and a half of prize fight in it?" "No, I don't suppose He would." "Well, that's my only reason for shutting this account out of the 'News.' I have decided not to do a thing in connection with the paper for a whole year that I honestly believe Jesus would not do." Clark could not have looked more amazed if the chief had suddenly gone crazy. In fact, he did think something was wrong, though Mr. Norman was one of the last men in the world, in his judgment, to lose his mind. "What effect will that have on the paper?" he finally managed to ask in a faint voice. "What do you think?" asked Norman with a keen glance. "I think it will simply ruin the paper," replied Clark promptly. He was gathering up his bewildered senses and began to remonstrate, "Why, it isn't feasible to run a paper nowadays on any such basis. It's too ideal. The world isn't ready for it. You can't make it pay. Just as sure as you live, if E-Book Extra / 249

you shut out this prize fight report you will lose hundreds of subscribers. It doesn't take a prophet to see that. The very best people in town are eager to read it. They know it has taken place, and when they get the paper this evening they will expect half a page at least. Surely, you can't afford to disregard the wishes of the public to such an extent. It will be a great mistake if you do, in my opinion." Norman sat silent a minute. Then he spoke gently but firmly. "Clark, what in your honest opinion is the right standard for determining conduct? Is the only right standard for everyone the probable action of Jesus Christ? Would you say the highest, best law for a man to live by was contained in asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?' And then doing it regardless of results? In other words, do you think men everywhere ought to follow Jesus' example as closely as they can in their daily lives?" Clark turned red, and moved uneasily in his chair before he answered the editor's question. "Why, -- yes, -- I suppose if you put it on the ground of what men ought to do there is no other standard of conduct. But the question is, What is feasible? Is it possible to make it pay? To succeed in the newspaper business we have got to conform to custom and the recognized methods of society. We can't do as we would in an ideal world." "Do you mean that we can't run the paper strictly on Christian principles and make it succeed?" "Yes, that's just what I mean. It can't be done. We'll go bankrupt in thirty days." Norman did not reply at once. He was very thoughtful. "We shall have occasion to talk this over again, Clark. Meanwhile, I think we ought to understand each other frankly. I have pledged myself for a year to do everything connected with the paper after answering the question, 'What would Jesus do?' as honestly as possible. I shall continue to do this in the belief that not only can we succeed but that we can succeed better than we ever did." Clark rose. "The report does not go in?" "It does not. There is plenty of good material to take its place, and you know what it is." Clark hesitated. "Are you going to say anything about the absence of the report?" "No, let the paper go to press as if there had been no thing as a prize fight yesterday." 250 / 365 WWJD?

Clark walked out of the room to his own desk feeling as if the bottom had dropped out of everything. He was astonished, bewildered, excited, and considerably angered. His great respect for Norman checked his rising indignation and disgust, but with it all was a feeling of growing wonder at the sudden change of motive which had entered the office of the "Daily News" and threatened, as he firmly believed, to destroy it. Before noon every reporter, pressman, and employee on the "Daily News" was informed of the remarkable fact that the paper was going to press without a word in it about the famous prize fight of Sunday. The reporters were simply astonished beyond measure at the announcement of the fact. Every one in the stereotyping and composing rooms had something to say about the unheard-of omission. Two or three times during the day when Mr. Norman had occasion to visit the composing rooms the men stopped their work or glanced around their cases looking at him curiously. He knew that he was being observed strangely and said nothing, and did not appear to note it. There had been several minor changes in the paper, suggested by the editor, but nothing marked. He was waiting and thinking deeply. He felt as if he needed time and considerable opportunity for the exercise of his best judgment in several matters before he answered his ever-present question in the right way. It was not because there were not a great many things in the life of the paper that were contrary to the spirit of Christ that he did not act at once, but because he was yet honestly in doubt concerning what action Jesus would take. When the "Daily News" came out that evening it carried to its subscribers a distinct sensation. The presence of the report of the prize fight could not have produced anything equal to the effect of its omission. Hundreds of men in the hotels and stores down town, as well as regular subscribers, eagerly opened the paper and searched it through for the account of the great fight; not finding it, they rushed to the news stands and bought other papers. Even the newsboys had not all understood the fact of omission. One them was calling out "'Daily News!' Full 'count great prize fight 't Resort. 'News,' sir?" A man on the corner of the avenue close by the "News" office bought the paper, looked over its front page hurriedly and then angrily called the boy back. "Here, boy! What's the matter with your paper? There no prize fight here! What do you mean by selling old papers?" "Old papers nuthin'!" replied the boy indignantly. "Dat's today's paper. What's de matter wid you?" "But there is no account of the prize fight here! Look!" E-Book Extra / 251

The man handed back the paper and the boy glanced at hurriedly. Then he whistled, while a bewildered look crept over his face. Seeing another boy running by with papers called out "Say, Sam, le'me see your pile." A hasty examination revealed the remarkable fact that all the copies of the "News" were silent on the subject of the prize fight. "Here, give me another paper! One with the prize fight account!" shouted the customer. He received it and walked off, while the two boys remained, comparing notes and lost in wonder at the event. "Somp'in slipped a cog in the 'Newsy' sure," said the first boy. But he couldn't tell why, and ran over to the"News" office to find out. There were several other boys at the delivery room and they were all excited and disgusted. The amount of slangy remonstrances hurled at the clerk back of the long counter would have driven any one else to despair. He was used to more or less of it all the time, and consequently hardened to it. Mr. Norman was just coming downstairs on his way home and he paused as he went by the door of the delivery room and looked in. "What's the matter here, George?" he asked the clerk as he noted the unusual confusion. "The boys say they can't sell any copies of the 'News' tonight because the prize fight isn't in it," replied George, looking curiously at the editor as so many of the employees had done during the day. Mr. Norman hesitated a moment, then walked into the room and confronted the boys. "How many papers are there here? Boys, count them out, and I'll buy them to-night." There was a wild stare and a wild counting of papers on the part of these boys. "Give them their money, George, and if any of the other boys come in with the same complaint buy their unsold copies. Is that fair?" he asked the boys who were smitten into unusual silence by the unheard-of action on the part of the editor. "Fair! Well, I should -- But will you keep this up? Will dis be a continual performance for de benefit of de fraternity?" Mr. Norman smiled slightly, but he did not think it was necessary to answer the question. He walked out of the office and went home. On the way he could not avoid that constant query, "Would Jesus have done it?" It was not so much with reference to this last transaction as to the entire motive that had urged him on since he had made the promise. The newsboys were 252 / 365 WWJD?

necessarily sufferers through the action he had taken. Why should they lose money by it? They were not to blame. He was a rich man and could afford to put a little brightness into their lives if he chose to do it. He believed, as he went on his way home, that Jesus would have done either what he did or something similar in order to be free from any possible feeling of injustice. He was not deciding these questions for any one else but for his own conduct. He was not in a position to dogmatize, and he felt that he could answer only with his own judgment and conscience as to his interpretation of his Master's probable action. The falling off in sales of the paper he had in a measure foreseen. But he was yet to realize the full extent of the loss to the paper, if such a policy should be continued. ~ Editor's note: In His Steps is readily available in print and electronic formats. Here is a listing of all of the chapters in this important book: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Author's Forward Chapter 1 - Henry Maxwell's visitor Chapter 2 - The first meeting Chapter 3 - Edward Norman's choice Chapter 4 - The "News" changes direction Chapter 5 - Alexander Powers' choice Chapter 6 - Rachel Winslow's choice Chapter 7 - Rachel and Alexander change direction Chapter 8 - "The Moral Side of Political Questions" Chapter 9 - Milton Wright's choice Chapter 10 - Rachel and Jasper Chase Chapter 11 - Donald Marsh's choice Chapter 12 - Virginia Page's choice Chapter 13 - Virginia Page's choice (continued) Chapter 14 - Loreen's choice Chapter 15 - Loreen is laid to rest Chapter 16 - Virginia's other plan Chapter 17 - Jasper's choice Chapter 18 - Rollin Page's change in direction Chapter 19 - Letter from the Rev. Calvin Bruce Chapter 20 - Letter from the Rev. Calvin Bruce (continued) Chapter 21 - Felicia and Rose Sterling Chapter 22 - Mr. Sterling Chapter 23 - The Rev. Bruce's sermon Chapter 24 - Mr. Sterling's choice Chapter 25 - The Bishop's choice Chapter 26 - Felicia's change in direction Chapter 27 - Mr. Burns' choice E-Book Extra / 253

• • • •

Chapter 28 - Winter in Chicago Chapter 29 - Mr. Penrose and Stephen Clyde Chapter 30 - Henry Maxwell visits the Settlement Hall Chapter 31 - Walking obediently In His Steps

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About the Author Nick Harrison is a journalist and author of the bestselling devotional Promises to Keep: Daily Devotions for Men Seeking Integrity and of His Victorious Indwelling: A Deeper Life Devotional. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

ALSO BY NICK HARRISON

Promises to Keep: Daily Devotions for Men Seeking Integrity His Victorious Indwelling: A Deeper Life Devotional

Credits Cover design by: Jim Warner Illustration and lettering: Paul Jermann

All Scriptures are New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise indicated. Permissions constitute a continuation of this copyright page 365 WWJD?: Daily Answers to “What Would Jesus Do?” Copyright © 1998 by Nick Harrison. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™. PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader December 2003 ISBN 0-06-073413-2

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