What Is Life to the Fullest?

W. M. Lewis said, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”

I think we all really want life to the fullest. We want more than mere existence; we want life that is worth living.

When I was seventeen, I went on a diligent search in my life. My mom had married and divorced seven times. She was a big drinker, a big partier. And this got me searching for the meaning of life at a very early age.

When I looked at the adult world I was exposed to, I found nothing in it that I wanted. I couldn’t think of any person that I really had that much admiration for, and I thought there had to be more to life. So I began my search.

Interestingly, I was attracted to things that were good. I was looking for something wholesome, something solid and stable. I came to faith on my high school campus after I saw a group of Christians having a Bible study. These Christians were living life to its fullest, and it radiated from them. So I decided I wanted some of that.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV). The abundant life is not necessarily a long life, though it may be. We will live as long as God wants us to live. Nor is it necessarily a life free of sorrow, heartache, or tragedy. Even Christians experience all of that.

The abundant life is one in which we are content in the knowledge that God’s grace is more than sufficient for our needs. It’s the knowledge that nothing can suppress it and that God’s favor for us is unending. That is the abundant life as presented by Jesus.