what is hwlf mean?

Originally, WWJD came about in the early 1990s when a youth group leader by the name of Janie Tinklenberg began a movement to help the teenagers in the group to remember the phrase by creating bracelets for them. They were in Holland, Michigan. But now WWJD is worldwide.

What I found to be super neat is WWJD goes back way further than 1990. It goes all the way back to 1891, in a sermon preached by none other than Charles Spurgeon. (Fun Fact: the name of my dorm at Maranatha is Spurgeon!)

WWJD seeks to encourage Christians to behave as Christ would have behaved.

As Christians we are called to be “Christlike.” The meaning of “Christian” simply is someone who follows Christ. But what we follow forms us. As we pursue Jesus, it is essential that we become more like Him. But how can we accomplish this?

We need to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” In nearly all cases, we can find the answers to this question in God’s Word. But in certain situations, we need to apply principles we see in the Bible because there is not a clear command given. But is there any one single principle that guided Jesus’ actions?

Jesus obeyed the Word of God perfectly, just as we should be striving to do. But in those situations I mentioned, the ones where no clear command is given, simply principles, what principle guided Jesus? Love.

Jesus would love.

Some of you just had thoughts of confusion, some had thoughts of doubt, and some had thoughts of relief. Regardless, I truly believe that Jesus was guided by love. There are three biblical examples that reveal Jesus’ commitment to love.

Jesus loved all the people in the world. After all, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.” He doesn’t love the sin or the ways of our fallen world, but He does choose to love us. Without His love for us, why would Jesus have come to earth anyway?

Jesus Christ loves you and I. Yes, we do need to accept Him into our lives for salvation, and for deliverance from sin. However, before anyone ever accepted Him into their heart, Jesus loved the entire world. We read how God is patient, not wanting anyone to die without first receiving His free gift of salvation. (2 Peter 3:9) We are loved by Jesus in a way we can never fathom in our finite minds.

You already know what passage I am turning to. In John 8:1-11, Jesus goes to the temple to teach the people. While He is teaching, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in the act of adultery to him, asking whether she was to be stoned as the law taught them. This woman was a sinner, and she had been caught in her sin! What would Jesus do?

Jesus simply says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7) He used a biblical truth to convict her accusers, and the accusers left, one by one until only Jesus and the woman were the only people left in the temple. When Jesus looked up and saw that everyone had left, he asked the woman if anyone had condemned her? She said that no one had.

When dealing with sin, Jesus did not condemn. He protected in love and truth (an important concept when it comes to biblical love). Yes, He still instructed her to stop sinning, but what did Jesus do first? Jesus responded in love.

Jesus responded to sinners in love by loving us before we ever knew or accepted Him. Jesus responded to the woman who was caught in adultery in love before He commanded her to stop sinning. Finally, Jesus responded in love even when He was suffering.

Jesus was whipped. Jesus was mocked. He was spit at. He was bruised. He was beaten with rods. They placed a crown of thorns on His head. He was crucified on a cross, nailed by his hands and feet to a piece of rough wood, between two criminals. He bled and died — for you and I.

Jesus didn’t suffer for Himself. He suffered for us. He endured so much pain and suffering and death itself. . . because He loves us. But throughout His suffering, it is interesting in light of Isaiah 53:7 that Jesus did open His mouth. The context of that verse was speaking about how Jesus didn’t say anything to oppose or resist His suffering. But He did say something that revealed His response to the entire situation.

Jesus, as He was bleeding to death, hanging from a cross, and gasping for air, put all of His energy into making a final gesture of love before giving up His spirit to God. Who was He asking forgiveness for? He was asking God to forgive the people mocking Him and who were the cause of His suffering. In every circumstance Jesus was placed in, He chose to act in love.

In the midst of sinners, Jesus chose to love. When dealing with sin, Jesus prioritized love. When suffering for the sin of sinners, Jesus still responded in love.

What does that verse mean to you? You may have had a difficult time reading this blog. It may have challenged your beliefs. But when we ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”, the answer we find is, “He would love first.”

I first came about this phrase in late November, and as I thought and reflected upon it, it became my focus for 2019. God is holy. God is sovereign. God is just. God is omniscient. God is infinite, and as I bring up this subject by no means am I seeking to discredit any of His divine characteristics. But God IS love. Jesus loved first. What should we do? We should love first. God’s love motivated Him to sacrifice His own Son for us. We need to be careful never to discredit the power or need for Godly, agape love.

Love leads to the Lord.

Everything else will follow after.

About a month ago while mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, I came across a sponsored posts by the account @hewouldlovefirst. It was an image of a bracelet that looked very familiar, and would be familiar for any child of the 80’s and 90's.

Do you remember those WWJD bracelets? When I was in school I remember myself and some of my friends wearing these bracelets. Now, the majority if not all of us wore them because we thought they were “cool.” I would be lying if I said we wore them because we were living out the message to question our actions and decisions by asking What Would Jesus Do. I actually found my WWJD bracelet recently in an old jewelry box.

The image showed a bracelet of the same style as those old WWJD bracelets, except the letters were HWLF, which stands for He Would Love First. It stopped me in my tracks. I thought it was brilliant and I ordered a set that minute.

Those closest to me know that I am a very spiritual person. I say spiritual and not religious intentionally. I grew up Roman Catholic and I still attend mass weekly (other than in the time of Covid). I spent a year reading through the entire Bible a few years back and I start every day reading some form of scripture.

But over the past 5 years I have expanded my view of spirituality greatly. Through my love and study of yoga, I have studied some of the practices of Eastern Religions. One common practice is meditation, which is one I have been practicing consistently for about 5 years. It took a while for me to feel comfortable meditating, but I will tell you I feel closer to God sitting in silence than I ever have in a church.

One thing you learn when you take the blinders off and study other religions is that they all share a common theme. Love. Love for God and Love for one another.

And if you have read the Gospels, you know Love is Jesus’ central message.

But somehow this message has been lost.

Even so called Christians and Christian organizations fail to live out this message. Instead they condemn. They condemn homosexuality. They condemn those who have had abortions. They get behind the ultra-conservative who are aggressively trying to stop refugees from coming to our country to escape conditions any of us that were fortunate enough to be born in the United States cannot even fathom.

Now, I am wholeheartedly Pro Life and I believe we need to have immigration laws. But when I think of somebody having an abortion I feel compassion for them; compassion because having an abortion must be one of the emotionally difficult experiences a woman can ever go through. When I think of a poor refugee child trying to enter the US, I think about my own children.

As many cities across the US are still burning today after another night of riots , the answer to every problem we have as a society right now is Love.

Love needs to be the essence of every decision. It needs to be the basis of every political policy we enact. It needs to be at the heart of every interaction we have with another human being.

I truly believe if we all start with Love we can solve every issue we face as a society.

Description. Spread love and positivity with this He Would Love First (H.W.L.F.)