What Would Jesus Do?

This week it is Snapchat. Please, mom, please can I get it on my phone? Everyone has it. Please mom. This teenager of mine is nothing if not persistent. And he knows I have no good answer. He senses the wavering of my uncertainty.

Why are there always so many decisions to make as a parent?

Seriously, where is the book of directions that tells you when these things are ok and where is the book in the Bible that guides me on when to allow my teenager to have access to certain social media apps? Did I miss some verses somewhere?

In case you, like me, need some schooling in the area of social media apps here you go. “Snapchat is a popular app that allows you to send videos and pictures to your friends. These videos and pictures then self-destruct within a few minutes of a person viewing them.”

What? Why would you want to do that — send a message and then have that message disappear?

It seems to be this generations’ equivalent of adding ‘Just Kidding’ to the bottom of folded note lobbed at a buddy across the classroom. Only it disappears so  the teacher can’t read it to the class. What good could possibly come from sending a message that you know is going to disappear?

So, I do what every good parent does when they have no idea how to make a decision. I stall. I tell him I need more information, to research it some more, blah, blah, blah. He looks at me, irritated, and after saying yes ma’am more times than necessary, declares that he is going to make a presentation on why Snapchat isn’t bad and convince me to let him have it.

Awesome. That went well.

All of this drama over messages that disappear?

Nothing against Snapchat, but I need messages in my life that stay, ones that reappear, reassure and never self – destruct. Because I am prone to do that on my own.

When I was a kid, there was this message that became quite popular, in fact, I think it still is. W.W.J.D. We thought it was so cool back then. Our church camp yellowed bracelets, placing this question into every facet of our lives — What Would Jesus Do? We were supposed to ask ourselves this question when we were in a difficult situation or when we were interacting with others.

What Would Jesus Do?

And this message stuck. But the answer? Well, finding that answer has nearly caused the perfectionist in me to self-destruct. You see, I have this crazy need to make 100% on every test. Can anyone relate?

And What Would Jesus Do? Well, I mean how do you ace that one? He is perfect.

I know all the verses about how he is perfect and how he calls us to be as well.  Anyone else ever struggled with this? Ever wondered, where’s the study guide? Ever wanted the answers listed somewhere so that you could be certain?

Go to this school or that one? Date this guy or that one? Be friends with these folks or those? Live in this place or that one? Take this job or that one? W.W.J.D? Yes! What would he do?

Often I have had nothing but this self- destructing message that somewhere there was a sign out there that I was missing; somewhere there was a perfect answer and I needed to find it before it disappeared.

My misdirected pursuit of WWJD has many times left me standing on the sidelines, gnashing my teeth and wringing my hands. Because even in the practical application book of James, there are no verses about which job you should take or when you should allow your kid to have an iPhone.

So where’s God’s message in all of this? How are we to make good decisions? How are we to know what’s right?

I am learning to answer it this way. W.D.J.D.– What Did Jesus Do? The Bible is the word of God and Jesus is the Word made flesh. So our study guide? It is him. His words, his actions, his prayers, his voice. It is all there. But it is not quite what you might think.

Jesus embraced the lowly, the outcasts, the sick. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. He went to places no one would go and healed people no would touch. He walked into the crowds, into the storms and towards tombs filled with the stench of death. And he used his breath, his words and his touch to bring messages of life into it all. He simply spoke and walked and ate and loved. And lives were changed.

The writer of Hebrews says this “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1).

The answers to all of the questions on the test? Look at Jesus. And then choose one. I am learning that it is less about filling in all these blanks with perfect responses and more about where my eyes are when I am taking the test. Am I looking at Jesus?

The teenager pleads his case, shows us a myriad of positive parental comments and waits patiently for our answer. He even recruits his friends to text me. Smooth move.

And so we relent. We install the app on his phone. And away he goes “snapping” happy decorated pictures to all of his friends.

Maybe that was the wrong thing to do? Maybe we should have stood our ground? Maybe we put down the wrong answer on the WWJD test? I honestly don’t know what Jesus would have done. But as my husband and I lean against each other in a weird feeling of defeat, I hear it like this:

I didn’t come so that you could get all the answers right. I didn’t come so that you would always know what to do. I am bigger than that. I came so that you would have life and have it to the fullest. I came so that you could walk into storms, jump out of boats and go into dark places knowing that I am always with you. I came so that your eyes don’t have to always be on the right answers, but on me. Look at me and then choose. I will never disappear.

When the goofy teenager turns his phone in at night, though, and I “snap” random pictures to his super cool friends, just to remind them that I am watching … yeah,  I am pretty sure that’s what Jesus would do, too.

“The Word became flesh and blood and moved in to the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes; the one-of-a kind glory; like Father, like Son. Generous inside and out; true from start to finish.” (John 1:14 The Message)