What would Jesus do?
Abide in Christ’s Teachings
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Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 9 (ESV)
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There’s a bit of a balance to this verse.
We know from other texts in the New Testament that salvation is God’s work. We cannot earn it.
However, here we see that we do have responsibilities in our relationship with the Lord.
Also, this makes some more explicit links between Christ and God, so that you know that they are equal in divinity yet distinct in personhood.
(Don’t think too hard about the Trinity, it’s quite the astounding paradox.)
We could try and spend time going back and forth on all the deeper theological implications of this verse.
But I try to be more practical with these emails.
So, simply put:
If we claim to be Christians, that we are a part of God’s family, then we will abide in the teachings of Jesus.
Abiding is living, so His teachings would be a regular and obvious part of our daily lives.
Christians should follow Jesus’s example and act like Jesus would want us to act.
I grew up in the height of the “W.W.J.D.” era (What Would Jesus Do?)
I remember those bracelets fondly.
The answer was almost always obvious, no matter what situation we found ourselves in because Jesus was so clear in His teachings.
He boiled all the Law & the Prophets to this:
Love God, love people.
That’s what Jesus did … and what He wants you to do.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2026 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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