Life to the Full: Life at all?

To me, the idea of life to the full has always seemed like something of a joke. If I'm honest, I struggle to live through each day, let alone attain this ‘fullness’ that the gospel seems to promise! But I've come to learn that ‘fullness’ doesn’t mean instagram-worthy photos and ‘my-life-is-perfect’ facebook statuses; sometimes its just finding one thing in a day that can make me smile. Full does not mean perfect.

In the hardest times, it’s hard to imagine living life ‘to the full’. When I’m in an A&E waiting room for the third time in as many months, because I've tried to take my own life, this seems like a far removed reality. But Jesus never said it was going to be easy, and He doesn’t tell us what ‘full’ looks like exactly. This can be very frustrating, but to trust in Jesus means to trust that whatever happens will be for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

I don’t know what ‘living life to the full’ will look like in the years to come; it may mean a full recovery and a story that can help others, and it may mean time as a psychiatric inpatient. Either way, my life will be ‘full’ because I will have God, and I have Christ dwelling in me - He will not leave me, and He will not forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6), He will not tempt me more than I can bear (1 Corinthians 10:14), and whatever evil my mind may tell me is truth, it is just enough for today (Matthew 6:34). I have found great encouragement of the fullness of life with my brothers and sisters in the LORD, and I have found it when everything seems to be falling apart. The first half of the verse in John 10:10 says ‘I have come that they may have life’ and that has certainly been true for me; without Jesus I would not only be spiritually dead, but physically as well. Living life to the full has meant living. With Jesus and for Jesus, because I don’t know how to do it any other way.