Signs and T-shirts have come out with a "WWJD" insignia. The letters stand for "What would Jesus do?" Is it wrong to use this sign such as wearing it as a necklace or wearing the T-shirt?

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Signs and T-shirts have come out with a "WWJD" insignia. The letters stand for "What would Jesus do?" Is it wrong to use this sign such as wearing it as a necklace or wearing the T-shirt?

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The intended purpose for such a symbol was certainly sincere in that we should consider what Jesus would do in any given situation. However, as with any commercial endeavor, one might wonder why the name of Jesus Christ is being used to make money, especially considering how Peter freely gave the lame man the power to walk in the name of Christ (Acts 3:1-8).

Nevertheless, should we use such a symbol? Will it really help us to do what is right? Following are a few things to consider.

God does use physical reminders to help us understand His plan and to keep His laws. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that God is our Creator. God's Holy Days remind us of God's plan of salvation through Christ. Wine is used as a symbol of Christ's blood during the Passover service. Unleavened bread is a reminder that we are to quit sinning and keep God's Word. But we use or keep most of these reminders on an annual basis. The Sabbath is kept once every seven days. Physical reminders are only helpful if they are fresh. Otherwise they become meaningless. Even our prayers are to be unique daily.

The same daily prayer or the same daily symbol becomes vain repetition (Matthew 6:7). In other words, it becomes meaningless and negates the very purpose intended in the first place.

Orthodox Jews have taken literally the scripture that states God's Word "shall be as frontlets between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:10). If you visit the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, you will see scores of men with little boxes containing the Ten Commandments attached to their foreheads. Such reminders on heads, signs on bumper stickers or slogans on T-shirts have yet to change the hearts of mankind.

The only sure way to follow "what Jesus would do" is to have the inner conviction of what sin, righteousness and judgment truly are (John 16:8). Power of conviction comes only through God's Spirit. That which is inside the forehead, not outside the forehead (or on a T-shirt), really makes the difference. God promised to move His Commandments from stones (or, by analogy, plaques, paper, bracelets, necklaces, bumper stickers and T-shirts) to mankind's heart through the Holy Spirit. This is what we now call the New Covenant (Hebrews 10:16). The apostle Peter declared the promise of that Spirit is also to our young people (Acts 2:39).

And guess what? That Spirit really is our daily reminder of WWJD. Notice Romans 8:9-10, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Isn't it much better to have the very mind of Christ in us, convicting us of what to do and what not to do, rather than just using the slogan "WWJD"?

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