What Would Jesus Do?

I have grown up a Christian and yet Christianity has always been complicated for me. It has only been over the last few years that I have begun to discover the true meaning of the “Christian walk”. In a nutshell it is simply “to be like Jesus”. It is so simple in theory and yet so challenging in practice.

When you look at the way Jesus lived his life, following his example is actually quite daunting. He didn’t care what people thought of him. He hung out with people that society did not approve of. He constantly challenged the church leaders on their beliefs and actions. He turned water into wine at a wedding when they ran out of alcohol. He didn’t defend himself when people accused him. He invited Judas to eat with him even though he knew he would betray him. He forgave the people who wanted him dead.

It has always been easy to pick and choose which parts of Jesus I want to reciprocate. But being only partly Christ-like is actually not being Christ-like at all. Jesus threw himself completely and utterly into everything he did, no matter the cost.

In the movie “Saving Private Ryan”, a group of soldiers set out to rescue a man named Ryan. They succeed in their mission but most of the soldiers die in the process. At the end of the movie Ryan, who is now an old man, visits the grave of one of the men who died to save him. He cries as he speaks to the tombstone, saying, “I hope I have done enough with my life. I hope your sacrifice was worth it.” Ryan had to live his life bearing the greatest burden of all – because another man had given up his life for him, he knew that he had to make every second of his life count. As Christians we face the same dilemma. Jesus died for us. We owe him our lives. We can’t waste a moment of it on things that don’t matter.