What Would Jesus Do?

As all of us walk through our daily lives, most of us likely don’t think about Our Lord’s impact on us throughout the day.  We eat, we go to work, we drive home, eat dinner, maybe watch a little TV and back to bed we go.  I get it!!  There is so much more for us in between, but the general routine is the same.  But as we make decisions during the day, some more important than others…I’m betting most of us when making big choices and even some small ones, don’t ask “What would Jesus do?”

As I was out for a drive last evening, and someone in another car was coming off the highway onto the street I was driving, I remember thinking, do I speed up and get in front of him or do I slow up and allow him to get in front of me.  And then the phrase, “what would Jesus do” came into my head and heart, and it was an easy decision.

Choices and Priorities

Life is all about choices and priorities, isn’t it?  Everything we do during the day is made up of choices.  Do I brush my teeth first or shower first?  Shall I start the laundry now or wait till later? Shall I make that doctor’s appointment I have been putting off?  Is it time to retire?  Do I reach out to my brothers who I’ve not talked to in some time or wait for them to do the reaching out?   Shall I be upset with a friend who hasn’t reached out to me for a while?  Shall I quit my job of 45 years and work for the church, which is where my heart now is?  I’ve had to ask myself all these questions in the last 5 years.  Some were daily, quick choices and others more difficult…one or two of which I still contemplate, not because I don’t want to resolve myself to an answer, but because they are painful.  And painfulness is hard……it just is!

Some of these choices and decisions are easy-peasy.  Others demand more thought and still others are those that hit at my heart and are emotion-driven.  Others are life-changing and not only influence us financially but also spiritually.

Priorities have a similar effect.  What is more important, making money or allowing my heart to govern my sense of priority.  Do I really need a new refrigerator, or shall I wait until the one I have breaks?  Is my health important enough to make that appointment or do I leave it to God?  Allowing my heart to drive my priorities may not be the prudent or the smartest, but I can convince myself that being spiritually happy is more important than ensuring I have more money or wealth than I need.  Those who have families and children learn that priorities are not just set for their own happiness but also the well-being and stability of those who rely on them for food, shelter, education and security.

But the choices we make and the priorities we set for ourselves and those we love, would be well-served, if from time to time, we thought about the question, “what would Jesus do?”  I have just now begun to listen to the book “In His Steps”, by Charles Sheldon. My sense is that it may help me think about choices in a different way.  We’ll see.

Asking ourselves “what would Jesus do” is encouragement to think twice before making choices and setting priorities without considering the impact on ourselves and others.  Being selfless and compassionate when making these tough decisions reflects what Our Lord would do if he walked among us today.  Clearly, He is always with us, but as He gave us the gift of choice, it will be up to us to think before acting.

Forgiveness will come regardless…..

In more than one of my writings, I’ve commented that I believe that we, The Catholic Church, are in the ‘forgiveness business’.  I mention this because regardless of the choices and priorities we make and set, Jesus will forgive us every time when we make the wrong choice or put earthly things before Him.  His compassion is without limits and the mercy He extends to all of us is the kind of behavior He asks of us as we walk through life.  I’ve worked for the Church for about 4 years now, seen, and been part of, the Church’s innerworkings which parishioners don’t generally see from the pews.  So, remembering to forgive, to have a more understanding heart, a more practical view of the workings of the Church serves me better than to think about all the Church’s sins.  But if I can always remember to forgive as Jesus would, I can set aside what may not always be the most pleasant, and focus on HIM, which is what all of us who work for the Church should be doing.  It is not about us; it’s about HIM.

He needs you to need Him

Is it easy when someone cuts you off in traffic to remember to think about what would Jesus do?  Of course not.  When an angry comment leaves your lips, will you think about what Jesus would have said instead?  When you miss mass on Sunday and you did it intentionally, will you agonize knowing that you likely hurt Jesus’ heart?  When you fall in love with the person you can’t have, will you have the courage to walk away as perhaps you should?  Jesus knows we are not perfect.  I’ve told my pastor more than once, if we were all perfect, we wouldn’t need Him, and that is sure not what Our Lord wants of us.  He wants us to need Him, go to Him when our hearts are troubled, and we need a helping hand.  If He wanted perfect people, He would have created us that way from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden.  And we all know how that turned out.

So, pray.  Pray that the choices you make are made with some thought as to whether it is right or wrong……easy or hard……. Christ-like or not.  I find that prayer guides me in directions I may not have gone had I not looked UP for guidance.  Did I get the answer?  Even if I think I didn’t, I probably did and just didn’t look in the right place.  

What would Jesus do?  Hey, you really can’t go wrong asking this question.  Worst case………you, actually, do the right thing.  And what is wrong with that?