WWJTAG?

We can get too caught up in the What Would Jesus Do? phenomenon.It's a great idea. It is a great way to approach life.

It's also a great way to immerse ourselves in a level of guilt and confusion that we've never been quite able to access before.

Let me offer an alternative:

Maybe instead of What Would Jesus Do? We should be asking What Would Jesus Think About God?

Instead of trying to mimic actions, we mimic the attitude behind the action. Yes, in the end we may replicate the actions of Jesus exactly as we see them and as they apply to the situation in front of us.

There is great freedom, however, and a critical key to our formation into Christ-likeness to say "What did Jesus believe about God that drove Him to act this way?"

What was He thinking when He disobeyed the Sabbath laws to heal the cripple in the synagogue?What was He thinking when He welcomed those rejected by the bearers of His Torah?

Today, when faced with your daily life - train yourself to think "What Would Jesus Think About God?" and how does it apply to what I'm about to do here.

(*many thanks to Haydn Shaw and our Renovation of the Heart class for this idea. And, oh also Dallas Willard for actually writing it in the book Renovation of the Heart.)