HWGAIHWM (The New WWJD)

I haven't posted in well over a year, but I don't have a better place to put this thought, so here goes.

A FEW THOUGHTS INSPIRED BY Philippians

Regardless of the negative connotations that accompany "WWJD" in the collective human subconscious, the sentiment can still be deeply Christian. We ought to behave in each moment motivated by the question, "how would God act if he were me?" This is is a dramatic reversal of "how would I act if I were God?" The latter is already the natural posture of fallen man (think of how many times you've wished He'd willed differently) and brings with it the ravaging tyranny of rebellion from which we have already grown so tired and old. The former, however, is the hope of the world. When the Spirit animates the Bride to manifest the character of Christ, the world by grace is given myriad manifestations of its Creator as beams of brilliant light from within the shadowy chaos of worldly broken nature. This is how it was always meant to be, and will be in eternity: we will be like God.

We already know that if God were a man, he would be made keenly aware by way of devotion and study of the greater story of the glory of God and of his unique place within it, therefore making the most of his time. He would leverage his resources to bring redemption to every situation that happened to intersect his small, mortal body.  He would be the fulfillment of the virtuous man of whom Aristotle often spoke (better than he knew). In the Philippian hymn, we see Jesus as stand unwavering in the face of death (courage), restraining his entitlement to equality with God (temperance), and instead expressing a calculated resolve (prudence) to redeem humanity before God (justice).

We would do well to allow this destined second nature to be formed in us with fear and trembling as we remember our place in Christ and his story and endeavor to respond as his images in the garden city.