The wrong question, and the right question

Today is the Festival of the Reformation. On this day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, beginning the restoration of the apostolic Gospel to center stage in the life of the Church after a long exile to the periphery. On that day, the Church began to remember that the Faith is about Jesus, and not about us; that His activity, and not ours, is decisive.

Those who ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" miss the point of this day- and of that apostolic Gospel. The point is not what Jesus would do if He were in our shoes. The point is what He has already done for the ones who are already in our shoes- us.

Those who seek to make their lives "purpose driven" miss the point that it is God Who accomplishes His purposes in our lives, not by our own striving but by His almighty power in hearts which look, not to their own preparations or efforts, but to the One Who lives His life in and through those whose faith is not in their own activity, but in His finished work.

Those whose eyes contemplate their own spiritual navels are many in today's "Protestantism." It would be well for them to read the 95 Theses, and contemplate Luther's observation that it is repentance, and not achievement, which is the warp and woof of the Christian life, and the central truth of our Faith: that we are not only justified but sanctified by grace alone, through faith alone, for Christ's sake alone.

No, "What Would Jesus Do?" is not the question. The question is "What Has Jesus Done?" He who apprehends the answer to that question, and trusts it, need not wonder what Jesus would do in his shoes, because Jesus lives in Him- and is already doing it.