Faced With Adversity

 

 

What would Jesus do – a.k.a. WWJD? This question is important when it comes to deciding what to do in a difficult situation. Distinguishing the imperativeness of understanding a circumstance takes a lot of effort. When you are tempted to do something, which you know in your heart that it is not appropriate, ask yourself “What would Jesus do in this situation?” Bearing in mind this state you are in, you should look at it through Jesus eyes. This can help you determine whether your enticement is proper or erroneous. For example, for someone who is a new Christian and they are trying to live their best for God and the persuasion arises to watch a movie that is wrong, smoke, or drink, and they are torn between doing it or not doing it, they should ask “WWJD?” Ponder this question. If Jesus were sitting right next to you would he watch the movie, would he smoke, or would he drink – the list can extend to whatever the temptation may be? The sad thing is, is when one first becomes a Christian, the devil will do anything he can to get you back in his power. The devil tempts us in many different ways. Who is the devil?

The Bible says, “The devil is like a lion roaming to and fro seeking whom he may devour.” One example would be, when a lion gets a taste for blood he will hunt you down until he gets you. The devil is like that. When you become a Christian he gets a taste of your blood and he will hunt you down with whatever temptation he can come up with until he gets you back into his power. When he enthusiastically tries to make the “trash can look good on the outside, think about what could be on the inside. What will the consequences be if we decide to take the trash that we think looks good?” Every decision has some kind of consequence. The right things we choose to do will have a positive outcome while on the other hand, the erroneous things we choose to do will have a negative outcome. We may be happy on the inside or we may deeply regret what we have just done.

One thing that we could be happy with is when we notice someone is distressed, we can talk with that person we can encourage them. That is something Jesus would do. On the other hand, when we notice someone who is heartbroken and in need of some encouragement and we walk on by, we may feel horrible after we ignore him or her. The Bible gives an example of someone who felt completely satisfied with what he did.

There was a man on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho when a group of thieves stripped him of his clothes, took his money, beat him and left him for dead. A while later a priest came and saw the man left for dead. Seeing the hopeless man, he passed by him on the other side of the road. A while after the priest passed by, a Levite came and saw the poor man beaten and left for dead, but, after seeing the beaten and bloody man, he also passed by on the other side of the road. Now there was a man called a Samaritan and he was known as an outcast. After seeing the man, he decided to help him. The Samaritan put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn. He paid for the half-dead man’s room and board and told the innkeeper “I have to leave. Please take care of this man and when I return I will pay for whatever debt he owes.”

The man did what Jesus would do. The man, who helped the sadly half-dead man, was known as the Good Samaritan because he took great care of the man that no one else would acknowledge. When faced with adversity, do what Jesus would do.