Becoming Fully Alive

     

        

The goal of Christian living might aptly be thought of as the process of becoming more fully alive, more fully human. So often we think of holy people or saints as being super-human or rather un-human in their pursuit of God. However, Biblically speaking, and throughout the centuries of the Church, Christians have understood the opposite to be true. It is the human being fully connected to God that is most fully alive, most fully human, and capable of seeing, feeling, and experiencing things that most of us are not.  This concept is not a new one. Saint Irenaeus, a third century church father, is often quoted for his memorable statement, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”  

  

Instead of thinking of Christian growth (read “sanctification” if your more Protestant minded or “holiness” if your more Catholic minded) as the pursuit of a set of strange behaviors and an even stranger set of mental beliefs, think of Christian growth as the process of you becoming more fully you. Christianity has always said if you want to see what it means to be truly human look at Jesus Christ for “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Since we we’re created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), we look at Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) to see what that image should look like in a flesh and blood human being.  

 

This doesn’t mean that we’re all supposed to grow long beards and wear sandals. Becoming more fully alive, more human, is not about becoming Christ Himself (impossible, sorry would-be-Messiahs!), but about becoming a unique reflection of the Triune God. You do that by taking all the elements of who you are and by grace developing them into their God given best. Fully alive persons (often referred to as saints in Church history) come in all sorts of packages, with differing personalities, are women and men, lay and ordained, single and married. In other words, when we run from sainthood, holiness, Christian growth, discipleship (whatever you want to call it), we are actually running away from our true selves. We are actually heading in a direction that will make us less human and less alive – sounds like a dead end to me?