Zoe

Resolving to Thrive

John Ortberg writes about a medical phrase: “Failure to Thrive.” His wife Nancy, a nurse, says that doctors and nurses apply that phrase to an infant who can’t seem to grow or gain weight. The baby is alive. But it does not thrive. It suffers from a failure to thrive.^[1]

C. S. Lewis wrote of similar failure faced by adults. He used two words–bios and zoe–to describe it. Bios, from which we get the word “biology,” refers to living. Every person not in a cemetery succeeds at bios. Zoe, however, refers to more than living. It refers to thriving. Every person has bios; not every person has zoe. Bios, Lewis proposes, is like a statue. Zoe is like the statue coming to life. Many of us have bios but we suffer from a lack of zoe. We are alive but we do not thrive. Our heart beats but our soul does not flourish. But when you finally go from just having bios to also having zoe, it’s like you’ve been a statue all your life and you’ve come alive as a real human.^[2] It’s like you were once a wooden puppet and now you’re a real boy named Pinocchio.Read More »Thriving: Coming to Life in Jesus (Jn 20:30-31; Jn. 1:1-5) Chris Altrock – January 3, 2016