Guard the Key to Your Heart

"The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive" - Irenaeus of Lyons

 God is glorified in us when we live in Him. St. Irenaeus' quote resonates within me and in my life. When we step into the thing that we have been created to do, I believe that we are fully alive. If we are honest with ourselves, our desires, gifts, personalities and dreams all point us to the calling and purposes of God that was planned for us before we were even born. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” There is nothing better living our lives everyday with the sense that we were created for God’s glory.

John 10:10

At first, Irenaeus' quote seems to go against some theological ideas. "No," we say, "God's glory doesn't stem from man, God's glory involves Himself." However, this is an erroneous belief. We must examine the statement first. Glory: honor or reverence given to a worthy person. Man: this is humanity - anyone who has ever lived, including you and I. Fully Alive: to be truly capable of the utmost life; truly free, joyful, and walking in close companionship and communion with God. 

We all live in a basic sense: we eat, we breath, we have a physical life. Some are alive in a spiritual sense: we are saved and we have had our spirits renewed; we have companionship with God. However, few of us are fully alive: physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Very few of us are alive in our inner self, our heart of hearts. Why? Because we lack joyfulness in our lives. We don't expect joy and we don't think we're special. We're shackled down by our past wounds, our past deeds; we are trapped by strongholds deep in our minds. This is not what the will of God is for us. This is not what Jesus died to accomplish.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - (John 10:10 NIV)

What does John try to convey in his Gospel? The latter part confirms Irenaeus' quote; Jesus' mission, one that earns God glory, because of His love for us, is to give us life to the fullest,  to make us fully alive, in every sense. So, that brings the question: if Jesus' mission is to make man fully alive, then what does the thief want to steal, kill, and destroy? The answer can be found in the Old Testament: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" (Proverbs 4:23). The thief represents those opposing Christ's mission. Satan, the Thief, tries to remove all sources for that mission and to destroy the work of God.  He wants to steal your very heart. Then he wants to kill your heart. Finally, he wants to destroy your heart. Because God treasures and acts through your heart Satan has to destroy your heart to succeed in his plan. Your heart is what God lives in, and through Him you are saved. The heart is the key to a man. The human heart, unbroken from defeats, the past, wounds, and strongholds, is made aware of its faded glory; the key to Christ's mission of making us fully alive.