Fully alive!

I have really enjoyed reading Waking the Dead by John Eldridge. I wish I had read it when it was published some 4 years ago. He is in most respects “bang on” in diagnosing the deadness in most Christians lives, and in providing some real food for thought if we are to recapture the lives we were meant to live.

He starts out by pointing out something I think we all know. Let’s be honest. This life we are living is not what was promised. “There’s talk of freedom and abundant life, of peace like a river and joy unspeakable, but we see precious little of it…” It is, I think, why Christianity looks so uninviting to the unbelieving world.

There are a number of responses to the reality that our lives are so at odds with "life to the full" that was promised. Which one is your excuse for not living abundantly?

The first is that God is not as claimed in the Bible or Christians. While many Christians wouldn’t admit this, they live their lives as though God is irrelevant. Others say that we are in some kind of different “dispensation” – what is described in the Bible is no longer available to God’s people. And so they live a religious life – emphasizing Bible teaching and sin avoidance – but except for some slight difference in speech and conduct their lives do not appear different from the world around them. Another response, is that we are blowing it. It's our fault because we aren’t good enough and despite all our resolve to read more, pray more, etc., we continually fail to live up to some standard. If we did God would hear and use us. It’s depressing, but we soldier on, attending services, involved in programs and groups, perhaps going to various revival or abundant life conferences, trying to break out. Sometimes we get excited for a while.

Eldridge makes a startling claim. This is not what God wants for us. In support he quotes Saint Irenaeus, “The glory of God is man fully alive”, and asks: “Could it be?” And I think “Hallelujah!” It’s not just my issue. Even the ancients understood. God cares that we reflect Him in lives that are transcendant and it is a dishonor to live boring, predictable, religious, dull lives. If we do not live glorious lives, God’s glory on earth is diminished.

How could we miss it? Read John 17:4 whereJesus summed up his earthly life, saying to God the Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me.” He was God’s glory on earth in what He did. Thereafter John applied it to us; “…the one who abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” Jesus did not live a life of quietness, religious duty, churchgoing and struggle for character development. He sought out and did a work He was given. And like Him, we are to do the same.