Word of the Week: Key

Key: a small piece of shaped metal with incisions cut to fit the wards of a particular lock, which is inserted into a lock and turned to open or close it. A thing that provides a means of gaining access to or understanding something. In the Greek New Testament, the word kleis is translated as key (Strong’s Concordance word #2807).

In the Word of the Week post about the word “Anchor,” I mentioned how when I see a word repeatedly, I know this is one of God’s ways of getting my attention. There’s something important He’s trying to tell me through the repetition, speaking my love language with words. You might be amazed at how many times the word “Key” has shown up in significant ways in my life:

• Door key for the office where I was a janitor – age 17
• Key to the first car I bought – age 18
• Key to my first apartment – age 20
• Door key for the retail store where I was night manager – age 21
• Key to my own house – age 24

That’s a list of normal keys that most people have. Maybe everyone doesn’t have professional janitorial experience, but many people have keys to their workplace. I’ve had many more desk keys, access card keys, and even keys to my church over the years. But ‘Keys’ have shown up in other ways that are a bit more unusual:

• Key Club – in high school, I joined this service club. I don’t remember doing one single thing in this club. Ironically, I’ve now served in ministry almost as long as I’ve had paying jobs.
• Key Account – in my last full-time banking job, the project I oversaw for my department was the development of the blandly named Business Key Account. In the days when the internet was in its infancy, account holders could easily combine information and investment activity across multiple accounts with this mid-1990’s cutting edge product.
• Key Word Study Bible – in early 2003, I bought the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. For a word-loving girl like me, this Bible is pure gold. This particular Bible is a cornucopia of definitions, commentary and cross-referencing tools. I became dramatically more biblically and historically literate because of this Bible.
• Keys to eating disorder recovery – in a previous ministry, we talked about and taught extensively on keys to recovery for the women to whom we ministered.
• Key Web Concepts – the company that has designed, developed and managed several websites for me is naturally partially named Key.
• And last but not least, I work for Key Ministry as Mental Health Ministry Director, Social Media Manager and Blog Editor.

Scripture has some interesting things to say about keys, and they typically invoke the connection of opposites: hiddenness and revelation, binding and loosing. In Matthew 16:18 – 19, Jesus famously gives Peter the ‘keys to the kingdom of Heaven.’ Peter doesn’t get the key because Jesus really likes him the best, Peter gets the key because he saw with his eyes and with his spirit that Jesus is the Messiah and was bold enough to say so out loud. Two things that were formerly disconnected were connected. As when a key is inserted into a lock, providing access to what was formerly hidden, access to God’s spirit from man’s spirit were granted. And with that access came the responsibility to pass on this connection, this knowledge of what is hidden to those who aren’t yet connected to God’s spirit and seeing with eyes of faith.

I’ve spent a lot of time with my Key Word Study Bible, plumbing the riches and treasure that is God’s Word. But the wonders God has revealed to me wouldn’t be nearly so valuable if I kept them all to myself. In each of the ministries where I’ve served, we’ve spent more than a little time laboring over being faithful to deliver the understanding of God’s Word, applied to the issues pertinent to each ministry, so that many more people would attain this life-changing access.

Has the word “key” or have actual “keys” have been significant in your life in unusual ways? Let me know in the comments below or on social media if you have a story to share about keys.