WIJD
Youth Weekend- Vendee
October 2, 2004
We are familiar with the wristbands, worn by some of us, even, that have the initials WWJD on them. Means what?
I was thinking about that, a few days ago, and it occurred to me that that is rather academic. It seemed to me that that does not accurately reflect what I’d like to see on a wristband, or inscribed on our hearts and minds. WWJD sounds rather academic to me, and not as real or present as something else that I’d propose and use for the direction of this time together this morning.
How many of you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour? That’s what I thought- that’s what I knew. So, how many of you have Jesus Christ alive in you right now? (Should be the same number.)
Col.1.27- have someone read this.
Ga.2.20- now read this.
These two, among many other verses of scripture, tell you that Jesus IS, NOW, AT THIS MOMENT, alive IN you. Sounds a bit crowded, doesn’t it, but it’s the reality you and I live with.
You might think about this and wonder, too. You know what you do sometimes, and you know what you think sometimes, and you might think that those disqualify you from the reality of Christ being alive in you. But they do not. I want you to look at two more passages.
Ro.8.9- read it. Says that a difference or change happened in you when you accepted Jesus into your life. When you have done that, you’ve left a past behind and said/declared that you wanted to live or be guided in a different way. God took you at your word, and changed you. Now, you might realize that sometimes you wrestle with that reality and what comes out isn’t always what ought to come out. That is normal, my friends. That is normal. It doesn’t mean that it’s right or OK, but it’s normal and God and you can and will deal with that issue-by-issue.
You might wonder, “well, if Jesus is living in me, how come I do some un-Jesus things more than I’d like to? Does that mean that Jesus is sinning or doing some un-Jesus things?” Look at one more passage.
Ga.2.17- the un-Jesus things in you are purely you. They are not approved by Jesus. They don’t have his seal of approval on them. It simply means that even when you are alive in the Spirit, with Jesus in you, sometimes you over-ride Jesus. And sometimes, you don’t know what Jesus would do, and don’t yield to it- you might even fight Jesus, without knowing that you are.
This brings us to what I feel would be a more appropriate wristband or series of initials for you and me.
WIJD- What IS Jesus doing? This is the quest of our lives. This, also, reflects something more immediate and urgent, more pressing and imminent, than WWJD. WIJD? WIJD in you right now? WIJD in you at any moment of your life? This is the issue and the concern.
In every day of your life, and throughout that day, your quest is to find out what Jesus is doing in and through you at that time. You might be aware of some un-Jesus things going on right now- those aren’t Him, so let’s focus a bit and discover a key to living as Jesus IS living- not ethereally ‘would be living’- in you.
You have a need for time with Jesus each day. You might call it your “Jesus time”, or your “quiet time”, or your “time with God”. Whatever you call it, you need it. I need it. To know what Jesus IS doing in each of us today and right now demands that we have time with Him to discover that.
How do you have a quiet time? What’s it all about? It’s about having some time devoted to Him. There’s no requirement for how long it needs to be. You know that some days you spend more time with a guiding parent than other days, and you, also, know that you don’t do that ‘by the clock’. So, I’m not going to say that you need ‘x’ amount of time each day. You have to figure that out. In reality, if we really are living a WIJD form of life, we’ll have more than one ‘quiet time’ each day- we’ll have many ‘mini quiet times’ as we want to know what He has in mind at a particular time. But, we do need one ‘big quiet time’- how big? That’s for you to decide. Some of us have an hour or so a day. Some have 15 minutes. You have to figure out what you need to do.
What do you do in a Quiet Time? (get input from the audience). There’s no one right way to do it.
1. Connect with the one you want to learn from. You do this in prayer, and you’ll learn a bit more about this later. But you need to, at least, say “I’d like to be with you for a bit right now- can we talk?” That’s what it’s all about. You can call it prayer- that’s the biblical word. But it’s really a chance for you to talk with Him- God and Jesus. It’s good, too, to not go in just thinking and talking about yourself- better to talk about Him. How can you do that? May I suggest you can use the Psalms a bit in this regard. Take Psalm 134, for instance, and there are many others, for instance 25, 27, 31.
2. Once you’ve told him you want to talk with him, you have to give him time to talk back to you. There are two ways He does this. First of all, you need to read His book. He has given us a lot here. You need a translation you can understand. Don’t let anyone make you believe that you need a particular translation- as long as it’s a valid and generally accepted translation, it will be OK. (Don’t bother with the special denominational translations of a few fringe groups.) Set yourself a plan to read. Do not just flip or open and point- sometimes, but rarely, that works beneficially. Mostly, it doesn’t and God wants you to know the whole book. Start in Mark or John and read a bit. But don’t try to read too much- govern that by the time you have available. Then you have to give Him the opportunity to speak to you through the second way. You need to think over what you’ve read- not read for the sake of reading- but read, then think about what it means, and how it applies to what’s happening in your life today. You need some time to turn over what you’ve read, in your mind, and think about how it applies. For instance, say you/we had just read Matt.17.24-26. What does it tell me about my life today? Among other things, it says I’m not to be selfish and self-involved. If you have more time, this would be a good time, too, for some other reading- maybe using some Bible helps, or a book written about a subject that adds to what you might have drawn from a passage or subject. (I’ve brought just a few to show something of what’s available.) What you’re really looking for is, “how does this apply to me? What difference does this make in my life?”
3. It’s good to end your time with a response- prayer, requests, commitment. All are important. You have needs to be taken to God. One of them will be to be living as Jesus IS in you today. The best result from Quiet Time is a life lived, allowing Jesus free in you.
Some of you work better with music playing, too. That’s OK- there’s lots of ‘God music’ available- and that, or quiet instrumental, would likely be best- this isn’t the time for rap, for instance. We’re talking about ‘quiet time’, remember.
Let’s practice:
Groups of no more than 4.
Round of prayer.
Read passage.
Think it over together.
Response- state what you’ll do from here- what Jesus is doing in you.
Pray.
