“Living Life to the Fullest”

How often have you heard the expression, “living life to the fullest”?

I hear it a lot.  And when I hear it I think I know what it means, but as I think about it more, I wonder, do I really know what it means?

It is said as an encouragement to “get off the couch” and “live life to the fullest!”  “Get the biggest bang for the buck!”  It is said after someone has died:  “She really lived life to the fullest!”  A while ago I saw a question posted on Facebook asking “If you could sum up what being healthy means to you in five words or less, what would you say?” and one post said, “Living life to the fullest!”

Usually when I hear that expression, it is connected to people who go skydiving or live on their own island or backpack around Europe (or the world!) or go bungee-jumping at an advanced age.  These people seem to have a lot of money and no job they need to show up for every day.  So what about me?  I don’t even like skydiving or bungee-jumping or extreme sports of any kind.  I don’t have a lot of money and I have responsibilities here and now that I can’t abandon to go traveling around the world.  Does that mean I can’t live life to the fullest?

Then I got to thinking, what about people in India or Africa or Haiti?  Or the people in the poorest parts of the USA?  Can they live life to the fullest?  There is no way they can do any of the things I’ve mentioned!  They don’t always have enough food to eat or a dry place to sleep or clean water to drink—what about them?

And what about someone like Mother Teresa—could she have “lived life to the fullest”?

So doesn’t this beg the question, “What is life to the fullest?”

Didn’t Jesus say something about that? 

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

Another translation puts it this way:  “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” 

If we have abundant life, life to the full, does it matter what our circumstances are?  Can we be in Africa or Haiti or India and still live life to the fullest?  Can we still lead a quiet life and have it be “to the fullest”?  Can someone wheelchair-bound or otherwise challenged live life to the fullest?

What if they had a relationship with Jesus?

Do you? Are you living life to the fullest?