What would Jesus do?

Dr. Rikki Permenter, Ph.D., Th. M.

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

Luke 19:10

A few months back I was sitting in a women’s Bible study in town. One of the “assignments” the curriculum asked us to do was to informally interview a person who didn’t identify as a Christian and document their answers to discuss with the group when we met next. During the week allotted I realized that I didn’t routinely interact with anyone who didn’t identify as a Christian. Anyone I could interview would essentially be a stranger to me that I walked up to in a store or at the gas station. This made me sad. When the group met the next week, each of the fifteen or so members had the same story. This made me really sad. That same day I had a serious conversation with my husband about how I can’t share the Gospel with people if I’m not around them. That same week I applied to teach a class at a secular university — just so I could be around people who don’t necessarily identify as Christian.

The more I thought about this experience the more I thought about the WWJD bracelets of the early 90s. What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do? He surrounded himself with all kinds of people… on purpose. He didn’t just hang out with his friends who looked like him, thought like him, and liked the same things he liked. Do you spend time with all kinds of people? Or do you only spend time with your friends, family, or church family? Do you put yourself in the path of non-Christian with the expressed purpose of leading them to Christ?

This month consider how you can make yourself available to non-Christians around you. What can you do to interact with them on a routine basis to get to know them and to help them get to know Jesus? How can you imitate Jesus in seeking out the lost with the intent of pointing them to the one who saves?

This article can be found in print in the monthly Baptist Association of Southeast Louisiana newsletter.