By Tim Holler
Sitting in a chapel at a small Christian Liberal Arts college, I leaned over to a fellow professor and whispered, “God is here.” He snapped his head toward the door as though he was expecting someone important to walk in! I chuckled and felt sad at the same time. First, the irony of this friend thinking I was referencing someone’s narcissism was kind of funny. But second, I was truly just trying to remind a fellow believer of God’s real presence. This was probably 30 years ago. I’ve been trying to keep myself aware of God’s presence in my life for many years, with varying degrees of success.
And it was only a few years before this that the whole Christian community had been encouraged to ask ourselves, “What Would Jesus Do?”
It’s a good question. It can help us make better decisions than we might otherwise make.
It all started when Janie Tinklenberg, a youth group leader in Holland, Michigan, wanted to encourage her youth group members to live like Jesus. It was 1989 and she had read Charles Sheldon’s, In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? a best-selling novel from 1896. Sheldon had written the novel to encourage his generation to follow in the steps of Jesus, in the same spirit as Thomas a Kempis from the 15th century.
Tinklenberg decided the best way to help her young people remember to keep the question before them was to abbreviate it (WWJD), and put it on a bracelet that they could wear and see daily. Thus began the phenomena. Since then, tens of millions of people have worn these bracelets.
(An interesting side note, Janie Tinklenberg did not make a dime on this economic explosion.)
Without taking anything away from this important question, I would like to suggest another question. I want to put a finer point on how we might live differently:
What Is Jesus Doing?
Matt. 28.20… And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
What this means is that Jesus is here right now and active in your life. If we are to be His followers, maybe our task is more important than just doing what He would do. Maybe it is finding out what He is doing and joining Him.
A.W. Tozer spoke of Spiritual Faculties that we need to cultivate in order to recognize God at work. He described the presence of our physical faculties, hearing, seeing, tasting, etc. that allow us to navigate the physical world. And we need Spiritual Faculties to see what God is doing so we can join Him in His activity, His ventures and adventures, now.
“We apprehend the physical world by exercising the faculties given us for the purpose, and we possess spiritual faculties by means of which we can know God and the spiritual world if we obey the Spirit’s urge and begin to use them… A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here waiting for our response to His Presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality.” – The Pursuit of God
I recently observed my daughter-in-law in a conversation with a virtual stranger, whose son had been seriously injured last year. The compassion, care, and concern she expressed toward this lady and her son was not only what Jesus would do, but it was what Jesus was doing. It was as though she could not help but express the love of God toward suffering people, even though they had just met.
The good news isn't just quoting John 3.16, it is being Jesus to people when He is being Himself to them. Just join Him.