I have to give credit where credit is due and if you've never read My Utmost for His Highest I recommend you do - it's a daily devotional that I've been reading for the last three or four years and it's the inspiration for today's blog entry.

The title of this entry is a phrase which was a cultural phenomenon a few years ago and is currently seen as unpopular in the general population but still pulled out by Christians who genuinely want to do what's right. But what does it mean?

I don't know if it was the origin of the phrase, but the first use I know of comes from Charles Sheldon's classic In His Steps (another great book!). The premise of this story was that the people of a town wanted to live their lives for one year making decisions based on what they thought Jesus would do - and the results make for an inspiring tale.

Since then, the phrase has come to mean: "How can I do my best Jesus impersonation in this situation?" A noble effort to be sure, but I'm afraid it completely misses the point.

The way of thinking on this matter has become very distorted in today's Christian culture. Too many Christians are focused on "being Jesus" and I suppose they have good reason. After all, Paul tells us: "For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body." (2 Corinthians 4:11) and "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5) and we're told over and over again that in an unbelieving world, we're the only Jesus many people will ever know. It's very important that we recognize our responsibility in this matter, but to imitate Christ is an endeavor that scripture never calls us to.

Instead, when we ask "What would Jesus do?" we should go to the source. "... those who diligently seek me will find me" (Proverbs 8:17) We should take the opportunity to spend time with Christ and see what God's Will is in this matter. After all, who would know better what Jesus would do than... Jesus?!? "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)

If our goal is to imitate Christ then we don't really need Jesus - we just need our own knowledge of Him and we can get that by reading the Bible and hearing the stories of other people. But if the goal is to truly discover what Jesus would do in a circumstance, then we need relationship with Jesus and we must be prepared for Him to reveal things to us that transcend any previous knowledge. We need to be ready to have a rooftop experience like Peter (Acts 10) that will blow the lid off of our preconceived notions of Who God is... and the more we learn the more accurate we will be when we present Jesus to the world.