What Does A Fulfilling Life Mean To You? …Hello Hump Day readers. The question for today’s devotion is: “What does a fulfilling life mean and do you feel that your life is fulfilling?” The Pew Research Center looked into this question and then posed an open-ended question about the meaning of life to nearly 19,000 adults across 17 advanced economies around the globe! One thing they found out was most economies are pretty much the same. Below is how they wrapped it up:

  • Family, children, and pets
  • Occupation and career
  • Material well-being
  • Friends and community
  • Physical and mental health
  • Freedom and independence
  • Education, learning, society institutions
  • Hobbies, recreation, service and engagement
  • Nature, outdoors, travel, new experiences
  • Spirituality, faith and religion

Some of us may remember Boris Becker—the famous tennis star who was at the very top of the tennis world. Yet despite all of his success, he was on the brink of suicide. Here is a quote he said about his unfulfilled life: “I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed. It’s the old song of movie stars and pop stars who commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy. I had no inner peace. I was a puppet on a string.” When he retired his life got worse-he was sentenced by UK courts to two years in prison. He had hidden assets and stole from creditors. In December 2022, he was released from his 8 months prison and was deported to Germany. In September 2024, Becker married his third wife, Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro—a wonderful woman with faith. Today they are not only happy but Becker says “This is what a fulfilling life I always wanted and I thought tennis and money was it, but for years I was wrong. Lilian has shown me the love of God and my life is indeed fulfilling in ways I would have never thought of! Thank you Lord for my precious wife.”

You don’t have to read many biographies to find this very same kind of frustration and disappointment. The famous author, Jack Higgins, was teaching an eager young writer. One day the young man asked this interesting question: “What would you have liked to have known as a young writer?” Higgins laughed and said “When you get to the top, there’s nothing there. Fame is NOT what people think it is. A fulfilled life is not fame, but in God’s hands only.”

Higgins’ words were spot-on! In Colossians 2:8-10 [NTFE], the Apostle Paul says: “Watch out that nobody uses philosophy and hollow trickery to take you captive! These are in line with human tradition, and with the “elements of the world”—not with the Messiah. In him, you see, all the full measure of divinity has taken up bodily residence. What’s more, you are fulfilled in him, since he’s the head of all rule and authority.”

Don’t let someone tell you that “I can simply do this or that, and then my life will be fulfilled” because it will not work. Only in Christ will our lives be fulfilled. If you’ve thought your life at this stage would be better but it seems it’s not, don’t be cynical. The solution to this problem is in Christ’s hands—he is the only one who can give you the fulfillment you seek and he is the only remedy to any emptiness you feel inside. So, let Christ our Savior change your worldly perspective to the fulfilling-life he has for you! AMEN.