A Bullet Journal for Christian Living?

This month, I started a bullet journal.  A bullet journal is sort of an organizational calendar combined with a to-do list.  Meetings, tasks, and other items get "bullet" entries and are then crossed off once they're achieved.  It's a way to increase productivity and to give a person a sense of accomplishment.

Someone recently said to me, "Shouldn't Christianity have a list of items on how to live so that people know what to do?" and I thought of my bullet journal.

A Bullet Journal for Christian Living could help a person form good Biblical habits.

But, there's a danger too, because every person, even faithful Christians, can get caught up in doing good works. 

As a Christian, my salvation is from Christ, and my salvation is independent of my own good or bad works. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8–9

And yet...I know I should do good works.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10 

And I know that my sinful nature gets in the way of my good works, and in "doing good" I start to rely on my performance, my efforts, and my worth.
 
So, what's the answer?  How does a Christian do good works without becoming prideful?

A "good work" in God's eyes, it's something that comes from the heart.

For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.            1 Samuel 16:7b  

And love is the fulfillment of good works.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  John 15:12

Good works are simply loving other people, serving others, meeting their needs.

As a Christian...

• Sometimes, I love and I act without noticing that I'm doing good.
• Sometimes, I struggle to love, but I do the good anyway.
• Sometimes, I struggle and then I fail in doing good.

Even as I'm loving and often failing, my Lord is loving and working on my heart. 

In the midst of this doing, loving, failing, the Augsburg Confession says that, for the Christian...

                Good works are bound to follow.

And the bullet journal?  The Christian life - it isn't a list of dos and don'ts, or bullets to mark off.  It's always what Jesus did.  In coming to earth, living, dying, rising again, Jesus is the One who crossed off His work as completed.

                ✅ It is finished.  John 19:30b