Across North America and the world, the youth of many churches who profess Christianity are wearing bracelets, necklaces, and other paraphernalia with the acronym WWJD. It is an excellent question for youth and adult alike to ask, especially when they come across compromising situations in their lives where peer pressures or other forces suggest they compromise their Christian values. But just how does the Christian answer the question, "What would Jesus do?"

Millions of dollars have been made by marketing the acronym WWJD by Christian bookstores and sales shops, but do the people promoting the question, offer the answer? Christian consumerism has sold the idea, but has left the question without an answer. There is a way, however, to answer the question, "What would Jesus do?"

First, the Bible gives guidelines as to the nature of Jesus in Malachi 3:6-7, where we are assured that God and Jesus are always the same—always perfect. Also, in Hebrews 13:8 we are assured that Jesus Christ would be the same today as He was yesterday. The Bible clearly points out that what was important to God and Christ is still important because He does not change.

You may be surprised to know that some people who consider themselves to be Christian would not agree with that concept because they say Jesus Christ has changed from when He walked on the earth as a human and that His Jewishness got in the way of His perfect Godliness. But if in fact Jesus changed at His own death and did away with the law—the principles that He lived His life by—then the question, "What would Jesus do?" would be up for debate. It would make Christians have to start guessing the answer—perhaps settling on one's own interpretation or trusting one's own conscience. That clearly is not what the Bible says. In 1 Peter 2:21 we are told that Jesus Christ left us an example to follow—to follow in His footsteps. The word "left" is past tense and it applies to us today. Clearly we must know what He left for us (His life example), in order to follow it.

It becomes clear to the Christian who reads his or her Bible that the way to answer the question is to ask another question, and that is, "What did Jesus do?"

For some young people in the United Church of God it may be a little hard to understand why their parents do what they do in their pattern of worship. Their parents keep a Sabbath and Holy Days. They wash the feet of other people and pray in a certain way. They eat unleavened bread and clean their homes of leavening, and they avoid eating pork and other unclean foods, etc. However, it may help to understand that the reason their parents do choose to do these things is precisely because they did ask the question: "What would Jesus do?" The way they answered the question was to ask the other necessary question, "What did Jesus do?"

They studied to know what Jesus did while He lived as a human on earth and are now willingly following the footsteps that He left for them to follow as instructed by the only written Word of God that we have—the Bible.

So when you are faced with a potentially compromising situation in your life it may help to remember the acronym WWJD and know that the question is answered by remembering what our Savior did in His perfect life on earth.