No More WWJD!

It’s time for a revolution! It’s time to stop trying to be like Christ. No, it is not heresy. Rather, it is a realization that in our human weakness, we cannot live as Christ lived.

Recently I have been studying Romans chapter 8 while also reading Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines. In so doing, I’ve come to realize something about my ability to be like Christ. I can’t do it. WWJD is a great slogan and an even better sales gimmick, but it is a poor way to try to live your life. It only leads to disappointment and frustration.

You see, there was nothing wrong with the Mosaic law. In fact, Romans 8:4 tells us that its requirements were righteous. The problem with the Mosaic law is that it was powerless to transform lives. The reason it was powerless, according to Romans 8:3 is that it was weakened by our sinful nature. As such, it became a law of “sin and death” (Rom 8:2). Christ came to set us free from the law of sin and death and showed us a new way to live – according to the law of the Spirit of Life (also Rom 8:2). Unfortunately, somewhere down the line we have missed the point. We are no longer living according to the Spirit of Life, but are living according to a new law of frustration and disappointment – the law of WWJD. We have replaced one set of do’s and don’ts that we are powerless to abide by in our sinful nature with a new set of do’s and don’ts that we are equally powerless to abide by in our sinful nature. Turn the other cheek? Control your tongue? I’m too weak for that. Consider your neighbor above yourself? Bear with each others’ weaknesses? I’m too selfish for that. Sure, I can try – I can even eagerly desire to succeed, but I will fail miserably. My sinful nature makes it just as impossible for me to live according to the commands of Jesus as it would be for me to live according to the requirements of the Mosaic law. Therefore, I am just as frustrated in my attempt to live the Christian life as the Jews were in their attempt to keep the law.

What am I to do, for I am a wretched man? What I want to do I cannot do, but rather I do what I do not want to do. (Romans 7)

There is a way out of this mess – Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! The answer is to stop trying to be like Christ… and simply surrender to his Spirit. We have to stop looking at every situation and trying to decide in our own flesh how to respond to it. Jesus Christ did not live the way he did because he came upon a situation and made a choice how to respond to it. Rather, Jesus Christ lived the way he did and his actions were determined by the fact that he is, by nature of being God, holy and righteous. His actions flowed from his righteous character. I am neither holy nor righteous and my character is fairly suspect. Romans chapter 8 tells us, however, that we no longer live (or rather we no longer should live) according to the weakness of our sinful nature, but instead should be living according to the Spirit. My hope of glory is not my ability to live out WWJD. My hope of glory, according to Colossians 1:27, is a great mystery revealed to us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – namely, Christ living in us – and through us… which also really means it is not my glory at all, but rather the glory of Christ. Nothing in me is worthy of glory except Christ himself. Why are we trying so hard to be like Christ, when Christ himself is living within us? Instead of trying to be an imitation of perfection, why not simply surrender ourselves to his perfect spirit and allow him to live through us? Only then can our lives be transformed. How do we do that? I’m not sure, so I’m simply going to quit trying and let Him do it for me. This is the true meaning of sanctification.

Christianity was never intended to be just another set of shackles.