In His Steps begins with Pastor Henry Maxwell, the well-off pastor of the well-off First Church in the well-off neighbourhood in the city of Raymond, preparing his sermon on 1 Peter 2:21 for Sunday. Henry Maxwell is a good speaker and believes himself a decent man. He preaches comfortable sermons that never ruffle feathers and is friends with many of the powerful people in town. Then on Sunday, after he finishes his sermon on 1 Peter 2:21, a hobo who has been sitting quietly in a pew in the back, stumbles to the pulpit and changes Henry Maxwell's and thousands of others' lives with a few words:
"I lost my job ten months ago. ... I'm not complaining, just stating facts. But I was wondering, as I sat here in church this morning, if what you call following Jesus is the same thing as He taught. What did He mean when He said, 'Follow me'? ... Your minister said it was necessary for the disciple of Jesus to follow His steps, and he said the steps were obedience, faith, love and imitation. But I did not hear him tell you just what he meant that to mean, especially the last step. What do you Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus? ... Do you mean that you are suffering and denying yourselves and trying to save lost, suffering humanity just as I understand Jesus did? ... What would Jesus do? Is that what you mean by following in His steps?"Then the hobo collapses and dies a few hours later. But his words remain and lives are changed. Henry Maxwell is first deeply affected by this and the next Sunday invites the members of his congregation to take a pledge with him: In everything they do, they pledged that would try to walk in Jesus' steps and always ask the question, "What would Jesus do?"
The remainder of the book follows several individuals as their lives are changed drastically by this pledge: the city newspaper editor who loses money and popularity by giving the paper a Christian make-over, a beautiful young singer who sacrifices a career on the stage to serve in the slums, the president of the university who stands up for what's right, the wealthy executive of an oil company who chooses truth and ends up losing his job and social position, two pastors who give up their churches to serve as missionaries to the poor, and of course Henry Maxwell who becomes much less comfortable and much more Christ-like. The pledge also spreads from Raymond to Chicago and all over the country as people are revolutionized by WWJD. But this phrase, this thought, this pledge is no joke. It's a matter of all seriousness and solemnity. There's nothing cliche about it.
And that's why this book has changed my view of WWJD. Yes, I still think that in recent years the phrase has been over-used and subsequently abused, but I think it's a phrase worth thinking of. Every one of our decisions should be governed by what we believe our Holy Saviour and King and the only Perfect Man would do in our place. We must seek to walk in His steps - in the voting booth, at school, at work, at church, in the grocery store, at the library, when we're swimming, when we're talking, when we're writing, when we're singing - whatever we do.
As 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
So I want to ask myself, "What would Jesus do?" and I want to walk in His steps. I want to be holy as He is holy. I want to be sanctified. I want to do all to the glory of God. How about you?