WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE? Where are we headed in this journey of faith? Without clarity on questions such as these, we may be active and engaged in practices of faith without the ability to see how the individual parts contribute to the whole. For St. Paul, there is no ambiguity surrounding the vision that animates his pastoral care and missionary zeal: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:10-11).

Anything less than resurrection life with Christ is a failure to see and pursue the fullness of the Christian faith. Every act of discipline—prayer, Bible study, fasting, serving the poor—that is not oriented towards a deeper encounter with the living God in Christ is severed from its intended purpose. In a season focused upon intentional acts of discipline, this clarity of vision is more important than ever! We seek to rightly order our lives, not as an end in and of itself, but as an entry into communion, joining Mary as we worship in adoration at the feet of our Lord Jesus (John 12:3).

Inhabit (a devotional journal for Lent by Dwell)

Have the disciplines you’ve embraced in Lent become ends in and of themselves, or are they opening you to a deeper life with God?