A Lutheran does 40 Days of Purpose

Lutherans deserve this encouragement and for much of my ministry I simply didn’t know how to offer it. Afraid of anything that sounded like works righteousness, I would stay away from this with labels that kept me from considering what was really being said. I would call this the third use of the law. But, on close examination it isn’t how we show that we are saved. It is how we experience the relationship that saves us and grow into the person our new life in Christ is designed to be.

Most folks won’t understand this particular Lutheran musing, but I’m writing it in my journal for my own benefit. Learning biblical ways to live out our relationship with God is just like going to a marriage course to learn the tools for a great relationship with our spouse. So many marriages fail because folks fall in love but don’t know how to live in love. So many Christians receive baptism, rejoice that God loves them, and experience nothing of the kingdom of God in their daily lives.

Warren makes it clear that God does the providing, we use what is given. We get a new mind, one that gets to think about all the wonderful things that God has done for us. We let go of our preoccupation with ourselves and focus on others. When we can accept this frequent point in Purpose Driven Life, "Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle," (defining lifestyle as relating to others as Jesus did) we will have a philosophy and a religion that truly satisfies us.

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