Do you remember the saying that was popular in the ’90s, “WWJD”? It was on everything from bracelets to bumper stickers. WWJD stands for “What would Jesus do?” When you had to make a choice, you were suppose to stop and think about what Jesus would do in the situation and do that. While this movement had great intentions and probably helped many people make better choices, we believe there is a foundational flaw. How is one to know what Jesus would do or think, if they don’t know Jesus? How would one know whether their choice is Jesus-like or not if they didn’t know what Jesus actually said and did. The place we get this information is from the Bible, and particularly the gospels. A disciple of anything is simply a “follower.” To be a true follower of anyone, you must know what they stand for and where they are leading you. This is no different with Jesus. To be Jesus followers (disciples) we have to first learn what He stands for, what He teaches, and where He is leading us.

Jesus said loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is the greatest commandment and loving others is the second greatest (Mark 12:29-31). He loves each of us because we are His creation and He died for our brokenness. He did not do this because it was an easy choice. In fact, the the world hated Him at the time (John 3:16-17, Romans 5:7-11). We show our love for Jesus by obeying his commandments (John 14:15-21).

All of us have to search our own hearts and decide whether we want to serve ourselves or if we want to follow Jesus. He says we can’t do both. This month, please join us as we study His word to learn more about being disciples (followers of Jesus). Let’s imitate His example and begin to live and love like Jesus.