What is Jesus Doing?

WIJD? (What Is Jesus Doing?)

We have all heard about the Christian fad question: What would Jesus do? A more relevant question is: What is Jesus doing? Jesus is now living in us. We do not have to play a guessing game to try to figure out what Jesus would do. He wants to live His life through us.

Another familiar Christian question we hear is: What can we do for Jesus? Or: How can we win the world for Jesus? This question seems to ignore the fact that Jesus is living in us. The question should be: What does Jesus want to do through us? Or: How does Jesus want to win the world through us?

How did Jesus handle this same question when He was here on earth? Did they have bumper stickers on the chariots that said: WWGD? Or: what would God do? Did Jesus have to play the guessing game to figure out what God would do in certain circumstances?

We can look at the way Jesus lived while He was here as an example for our lives. He was/is a role model for the way we should live our lives. Let us take a look at how He lived.

John 5:19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless {it is} something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

How extraordinary. The Son of God cannot do anything of Himself. Here is another version of the same verse:

John 5:19 only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.

Jesus could do nothing of His own accord. He would only do what He saw His Father doing.

John 5:30 "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Jesus, the Son of God could do nothing on His own initiative. He only did what He heard God leading Him to do. He did not seek His own will. This tells us He had a will. Interesting. And, His will was not always God’s will but He did not seek His will rather gave up His will for His Father’s will.

Jesus says the same thing in another verse:
John 8:28 So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am {He,} and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

To underscore the way Jesus lived His life on this earth: He did nothing on His own initiative. The Father taught Him what to do and say. Jesus wanted to be remembered by this characteristic. When you lift me up is when He was going to be crucified. He could have said a lot of things that would have captured who He was, but He wanted to be remembered as one who did nothing on His own initiative. He was helping His disciples, and us, learn to distinguish between God at work in us and our own efforts.

John 12:49 "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment {as to} what to say and what to speak.

John 12:50 "I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me."

John 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

Jesus was not taking glory for Himself but was teaching His disciples about how to live. We see a Jesus that was totally dependent on His Father, dependent on Him for everything, what to say and what to do. In fact, we see in this scripture that all of the works Jesus did were really the works of the Father. Jesus did His Father’s works, not His own. He was clarifying a truth, drawing a dividing line between Him and God, letting people know who was doing the works, not Jesus but God.

If Jesus did not take the initiative in His walk with God, are we to do more or less? Does God want us to do everything we can for Him? Or, does He want to do everything He can through us? In light of these scriptures, what would Jesus have said to that question?

What would Jesus do? He would do whatever the Father was telling Him to do. Why would we live our life differently than Jesus?

God lived in Jesus. Jesus lives in us. He wants us to have the same type of total dependency on Him that He had on the Father. This type of walk requires a relationship, a close, intimate relationship with Him. Without this relationship, we are going to be trying to guess what He would do rather than letting Him live His life through us.

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the {life} which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Jesus is now living in us. This scripture depicts a life of total dependence on Him who now lives in us and wants to live His life through us.

Jesus spoke of the abundant life. When we let Him take the initiative as we live a life of total dependence on Him, abundant life flows through us. So, WIJD in your life?