WWJD?

Millions were made in advertising and marketing of 4 little letters. Millions of bracelets, shirts, bumper stickers and other junk was made little the letters WWJD and Christians across the nation went wild over this new fad. And while the letters WWJD are no longer a best seller it seems to that the mere concept of What Would Jesus Do is also no longer something that we, as Christians, seem to really think about anymore. I'm sure some (if anybody does) who read this will be shocked and think why of course I think about what Jesus would do and so then my question is really? As Christians we used WWJD to decide on whether or not to go to that party or whether or not we should go that far with a boyfriend/girlfriend or whether or not we should do this or that but that's where it ended. They were mere thoughts and rarely did the actions follow suit. Once again I believe the Church has followed with this mentality and maybe even lead the charge in this thinking. It's so incredibly easy to say what Jesus would or wouldn't do without us ourselves having to follow the same actions. It's like we told Jesus what he would do and left it at that. But as I look around the Church I'm wondering do we even know how Jesus would act? Do we care? Do we think that he would act one way and yet it's ok for us to act differently. I guess much of this is stemming from the lack of love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and overall giving people value and worth that I see from so may Churches and so-called Christians. It's like as Christians we've somehow taken it upon our selves to expose people and their sin and then bash and condemn them and make them feel worthless and devalued all in the name of Jesus. Since when did being an ambassador for Christ mean that we're entitled to go around and beat people down? Since when do ambassadors for Christ mean that we can pick and choose who is good or worthy enough to be loved and experience God? We've somehow taken this horrible approach to "sharing" Jesus to others in that we'll tell them how bad they are and how they need to be saved from their sin all the while expecting them to want to know this God that apparently hates them and thinks they are worthless. Maybe it's just that, our approach in "sharing" that has totally become the problem in and of itself. Maybe instead of being so caught up in telling people we should become showers of who God is and the love from which we are all here to begin with. What if people, especially those "Christians" who run from groups like the "gays", the addicts, and those "living in sin", allowed these people to experienced the love of God through us. What if we loved on these people with an unconditional love and gave them worth and value and what if through this they were able to experience a taste of the love the Father has for them? Why is it that we think that we can just tell people they need Jesus and that He loves them all the while what pores from us is hate and bitterness? Do we really think that we can go up and tell people how sinful they are and assume they will just want to change just like that when we haven't shown them what it looks like to be loved? We treat Church the same way. Isn't church supposed to be a hospital for sinners and not a hotel for the healthy? That's like telling people they can't come to the doctor or hospital until they are no longer sick. People need to "get right with Jesus" before they can come to church. How does that work? Why should they buy into this Christianity thing without seeing why they should even care? We have this attitude that you can come to church once you get rid of the sin but until then you're not welcome. What is that?! What would happen if somebody who was gay walked into your church and sat down? Would people run in fear? Treat the person like crap? Tell them how horrible they are and how they need to repent now because they are going straight to hell? Why should they want to know this Jesus? How will they know that He loves them if we don't? I'm in no way down playing sin or the consequences of it. But so often we treat some sin as the "bad" sin and others as the tolerable sin and all we do is bash those living with the "bad" sin. Sin is sin. And with that God loves and deeply wants a relationship with the person struggling with the addiction, or the person sleeping around, or the homosexual as he does the person who comes every week to church and yet is cold and is just going through the motions. If we were to really adopt this mentality of what would Jesus do we would be going out and loving on those unlovable. Who was it that Jesus spent time with and ate with? The lowest of the low. The tax collectors, the prostitute, the adulterous woman, the ones the Pharisees would never even have looked at let alone talk to. We as Christians have become the Pharisees. We think we have it all together and are so caught up with others sin that we totally excuse and over look our own. When Jesus spent time with these people he didn't excuse their sin. He told them all about it. He knew it and he let them know he knew all about their lives but he did it in such a way that it drew people to him. He corrected with such love and compassion that these people had never experienced. When you have a genuine encounter with Christ your sin is exposed because His light shows us our sin, and he doesn't need us to condemn and do that for him. The Holy Spirit is capable for showing us that on his own. Those people who really experienced Christ were changed forever because you can't have a real encounter with Him and stay the same. But going up to somebody at the store and telling them they need Jesus and are going to hell and expecting a real life changing experience is ridiculous! They may say they accept him just to get the crazy Christian away but it won't be a life changing experience. We need to show people how to experience a relationship with Christ and that happens when we ourselves invest and set up relationships with people, and yes I mean even those "sinners". What would happen to our society if Churches changed how they reached those "lost people"? What would happen if we welcomed them into our churches just as they are, sick and hurt and lost, and loved on them? What if our love and compassion pointed them to the Father instead of beating them into submission? What if we treated them like people who have worth and value and are just as sick as we are? What if we preached in such a way that didn't condemn but pointed them to a relationship with Christ. If we look at this in the way we should as a relationship then doing the "right" things comes naturally. When we look at it as a list of do's and don'ts people don't care and it becomes something they have to do instead of wanting to do. If we showed people that this relationship with God is like any relationship, such as marriage, and yes there are things you shouldn't do. You shouldn't cheat on your spouse, you shouldn't hit or harm your spouse, you should treat them with love and care and value. Then you go into with a different mindset. You wouldn't do those things because you can't but because you don't want to. You love and value the person and wouldn't want to cause them pain and to sever that relationship. Same way with the relationship with the Father. It's not that I can't do these things but I wouldn't want to because it would hurt Him and sever that relationship. Why isn't this the stuff we teach at Church and why isn't this the way we live our lives as Christians? Why would a sick and lost world want what we have when we act like this?