"God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in his footsteps." (1 Peter 2:21 GW)
It was the sensation that sparked the little wristbands, the bumper stickers, and even conversations around the water cooler…..WWJD or "What would Jesus do?" It has faded because of two reasons: Everyone already knew the answer and no one could sustain doing what Jesus would do for long. There was no deep, reactionary change from shallow Christianity to a deeper relational understanding and commitment to God through His Son, Jesus Christ that must happen before the question becomes the reaction.
Jan Johnson feels even knowing that mysterious "WWJD" and doing it is prone to the same failure, because outward obedience is corrupted unless inward transformation of the heart towards "the kind of person from whom good deeds naturally flow" happens. In her theological understanding of 'Christlikeness', Johnson endeavors to look beyond the knowledge of "what" Jesus did to "understanding" seventeen 'underrated and particular' characteristics of Christ so that a 'curriculum of Christlikeness' will lead to a sustainable, transformational change within where what Jesus would do is replaced by doing what Jesus would do.
Johnson offers us a perspective of a "Jesus who was more than what He did" and a different look at the examples He left for us to follow.
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