What Would Jesus Think?
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
Paul was sitting in jail but he was persevering with hope and faith that the Word of God would be spread – that every nation would be evangelised and so many souls would be saved. Paul thought like Jesus. Jesus endured persecution to the point of flogging and even death on a cross, all for the sake of saving souls. The thought of the joy and glory that awaited Him in heaven is what kept Jesus going (Hebrews 12:2). The thought of souls being saved is what kept Paul going. Paul had Christ-like thinking, and was focused on Heaven, not just for himself but for others too. I believe that he was able to do all the incredible
things he did because his mindset was Christ-like. When you think like Jesus, you act like Jesus.
You either have Christ-like thinking or you have stinking-thinking. My thinking patterns are often very negative. I don’t want to do things so I tell myself just how bad it is going to be and think myself out of doing it. I dig holes for myself in my thought life that makes it so challenging to do almost anything because I’ve thought so much about how I don’t want to do it. But I’ve noticed that all my thoughts are always about myself. Paul was in jail, yet his thoughts were directed towards other people, and he was persevering. How often do you set
your mind on things above (Colossians 3:2) for yourself but also for people around you? Are you motivated by the thought of heaven? Are there people you want to bring to heaven with you? What would you be willing to go through to see the people you love saved? My little brother is an atheist and I would give anything in this world that it took in order to see him saved. There’s nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice to see my brother in heaven. I want to see my friends from university saved. Think about all your non-Christian friends and family. How
often do you think about their salvation or condemnation? How often are you praying for them?
I think and pray deeply for my friends and loved ones coming to Christ and I would be willing to do anything to see that happen, but I need to have that mindset for every single soul on earth, not just the people I love. In every scenario, my own selfish thoughts come first – we instantly think something in every scenario – but we can choose to triumph that by choosing to think what Jesus would think. You’ve heard of WWJD (what would Jesus do), but what about WWJT (what would Jesus think)? Jesus sees things very differently to the
way I see them. If I think like Jesus, I’m more likely to act like Jesus, and isn’t that the whole point? I’m making the decision to think like Jesus in every scenario and to constantly be focused on heaven for myself and for the lost. This will motivate me to persevere in my faith and persevere in evangelism with joy in my heart.
Contact Hazzy for a personal Bible study: Email | Instagram: @hazzyredgard
