“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
Have you ever seen bracelets that say WWJD? This acronym for What Would Jesus Do, stands as a reminder to think more like Jesus. At first, I was like, “Why do I need a reminder on my wrist?” Shortly after that when someone cut me off in traffic, or I hit my finger with a hammer working on a project I was reminded, “Oh, maybe I do need more reminders.”
As we are reading this section in Deuteronomy, I think sometimes people read verse five and then stop. Yes, I think loving our God is very important. However, what is just as important is doing this on a regular basis. What is something that you do that reminds you of Christ? Maybe it’s going to church every Sunday. Maybe your reminder is that you serve in a local non-profit to make your community better. Possibly you pray each night to have a conversation with God about what is going on in your life.
Sadly, I think our world needs more reminders, and sadly I don’t think any of us have enough money to buy WWJD bracelets to hand to every single person we come in contact with for the rest of our lives. As I kept reading, I was encouraged. My favorite part of this passage is verse seven. Share your experiences not only with your spouse and friends but impress them on your children. The youth of today are our future. I’m sure you have seen the kids act a little differently today than back in my day. Think about all the distractions they have competing for their attention: Netflix, Xbox, and my personal enemy, Tic Tok. Each working harder by the day to capture the attention of billions of people across the world.
What we do will impact the people around us and our children. Let’s use today as a reminder to be more like Jesus. What would he do in today’s world? How would he use his 24 hours each day? Search in his words for a solution. Let us lean more on scripture and teachings rather than the most popular items trending on social media. Today challenge yourself to think differently, to think as Jesus once did.
by Kurt Hamilton
Prayer
Let us pray. God teach us to be more like your son Jesus. Let us be reminded of his words and teachings in your scriptures. Show us opportunities in our daily walk where we can apply our knowledge to improve and uplift the people that are around us. God, you have already created the perfect recipe by creating each and every one of us uniquely. Now show us how to use our gifts and talents to make your world a better place. Let us be reminded today to think first, about what would Jesus do. We say all these things in your son’s name. Amen.