What Does It Mean to Be “Fully Alive” as a Human Being?

There’s nothing like a slow and careful read of a “familiar” text in the Bible to make me feel as if I’ve never seen it before. I’m working on 2 Corinthians 4 in the car, and the sticky part for me is, as usual, one of Paul’s lists: hard pressed but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. (Typed from memory for the win!)

Apparently, there’s a way to live fully without all the trappings I associate with a blessed life. And Paul had discovered it! Paul’s life seemed to teeter always between stunning victories and crushing blows, and yet he weathered it all with the same acceptance:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

What Does It Mean to Live Fully?

The 2nd-century church father Irenaeus was a student of Polycarp, who was said to have been tutored by John the Apostle. He has been credited with this bit of insight:

The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

Irenaeus would have written it in Greek, but what remains to us today is only the Latin translation which, if rendered literally, states simply, “For the glory of God is a living man.”

According to 2 Corinthians 4:7 (another verse I’m working on), we carry “this treasure”–the “Light of the knowledge of the glory of God”–in “earthen vessels,” the clay pots that God has created. Mine has been in use for sixty years. It’s female, white, and heavier than it should be, but in spite of all its frailty, Paul has made its job description clear:

My reason for being is all wrapped up in the glory of God.

Christ is the only One who fully reveals God’s glory, and yet he infuses the being of the true believer with the same kind of life–the same kind of being– to which Irenaeus referred. Jesus said this is the reason for the incarnation:

 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

(John 10:10)

For some readers, being “fully alive” will mean scaling all fourteen 4,000-Footers in Maine. It will look like lofty goals and published books, big rewards for airline miles, and big influence in all the important places.

For most of us, however, Irenaeus’s literal statement, “the glory of God is a living human,” will be most descriptive. God has called every believer to a life of what Martin Luther dubbed “mundane faithfulness.” We put God’s glory on display through small but significant acts of “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12)

“They Also Serve…”

This is not an argument for mediocrity or Christian spectatorship, but, rather, an acknowledgment that our life in Christ is not found in the fireworks and the red-letter days. Our hope is in another world entirely, and the currency of this other world is foreign to us. As someone said, “Jesus Christ went into the shop windows of life and changed all the price tags.”

Therefore, when John Milton, author of the epic poem Paradise Lost, discovered that he was going blind in mid-life, he, naturally, wondered what this meant for him as a poet and a servant of God. How could he use the talent God had given him without his sight?

In “On His Blindness,” one of his most celebrated sonnets, Milton concluded that, as King, “‘God doth not need/Either man’s work or his own gifts.” God is not impressed with my activity.

Milton’s stunning conclusion was that, alongside all those who serve God with their great deeds, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

God does not need our work, but he loves our being. Humanity cherishes results. God cherishes relationships.

God does not need our work, but he loves our being. Humanity cherishes results. God cherishes relationships.

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I cherished this truth when I spent hours every day sitting in a chair with a baby, and it became precious to me when back injuries complicated the bending and lifting of those busy toddler years. I want to remember that I was serving during those years.

The parenting role seems to come to a screeching halt when the nest is empty, but I’m finding that these years are no more absent of activity and purpose than a droplet of pond water under a microscope.

Does a praying life count as a life lived to the full?
Am I more valuable in the Kingdom of God as a writer or as a casserole-carrier and muffin-baker?
Does God place a higher value on my minutes at a microphone, speaking to a group of women than those minutes spent on the couch reading If You Give a Pig a Pancake to a blonde granddaughter?

No matter how we fulfill God’s calling upon our lives, whether we “stand and wait” in obscurity or perform jaw-dropping acts of brave faith in a public setting, we are called first to put God’s glory on display. May we find grace today–at this moment on the clock, during this day on the calendar–to practice patience and quiet attentiveness to whatever today’s “mundane faithfulness” may require.

Holding You in the Light,

No matter how we fulfill God’s calling upon our lives, whether we “stand and wait” in obscurity or perform jaw-dropping acts of brave faith in a public setting, we are called first to put God’s glory on display. #JohnMilton

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How Will You Come Close to God in the Days Leading up to Easter? (Here’s a FREE Resource to Help…)

February 22 was Ash Wednesday, the day on the church calendar that ushers us into Lent and our pondering of Christ’s great work on the cross. Every year, I appreciate this work of the heart that prepares me for a true celebration of resurrection on Easter Sunday.

As a gift to my newsletter subscribers, I’ve created a collection of 20 devotional readings called Come Close to the Story. If you’re already a subscriber, just sit tight and it will land in your email inbox on February 16, the Third Thursday of the month.

If you’re not already a subscriber, this Lenten season I invite you to join me for a daily pause—most readings should take five minutes or less—to come close to the story. In your busy life, remember that Easter is on its way. Affirm your belief in resurrection power, and then admit that without a death, there would be no resurrection.

Every month I send a newsletter with biblical encouragement straight to my subscribers’ email inboxes. Frequently, I share free resources, and the newsletter is where everything lands first. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path.

To add this free resource to your pursuit of biblical literacy and receive access to Come Close to the Story in time for your Lenten observance, simply enter your email and then click on the button below…

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Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash