Finding True Fulfillment
July 2024 Devotional
Beyond Earthly Desires
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. —C.S. Lewis
Humans are insatiable. I feel this deeply and constantly. I have this intrinsic knowledge that I'm meant to be fully satisfied, yet I've never fully reached this state I long for. We all long to achieve this fulfillment in different ways. Some look to a successful career, becoming more attractive, finding the perfect life partner, etc. We can know that even if we achieved all these things, we still would not have true fulfillment after all those very people who have it all still seem dissatisfied. It's depressing to realize that no earthly thing can genuinely make me feel satisfied, but we all have to realize it at some point. Some have to actually achieve all the things they think will bring them happiness before they reach the conclusion that it's not going to do them what they hoped. King Solomon (who truly had it all) was the one who famously said, 'Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.’
I'm a hopeless romantic, and I grew up on Disney films about how finding your true love is the key to unlocking your happily ever after. This was further confirmed on Sundays when the pastor would tell us that next to the day of his salvation, his wedding day was the happiest day of his life. If I had a beautiful partner who I loved and was obsessed with and who truly loved and was obsessed with me, too, how could I not finally be fulfilled? When I see an attractive man at the gym, on the subway, or on social media, I can't help but see him as the answer to my longings. What I continually have to remind myself is that this is fantasy. How do I know? I said ‘Hi’ to some of these hot guys at the gym and immediately sensed that we wouldn't be compatible even as casual friends. I talk to my married friends, who often question their marriages when the irreconcilable differences between them and their spouses seem too much to bear. I think of my own dating relationships and how they were so far from what I imagined they would be. Yet, I'm constantly drawn back to wanting to be fulfilled by someone else.
What if the reason I want to be fulfilled by the perfect husband is because that's what I was made for? Well, someone is coincidentally claiming to be just that person for me. Not only is He going to perfectly love me, but also perfectly fulfill me. When I mess up our relationship, He's already promised to forgive me. Also, we are engaged, and if you are part of Jesus' church, so are you. But this is a strange engagement. I've never seen Him. I've never heard him talk to me. I'm promised that when I see Him, He will present me to His Father as His perfect partner, whom He will marry and perfectly love forever. While it's true I've never seen this, I see the shadows of it. I see how He's going to first look at me when I'm at a wedding and watch the groom see his bride in her dress for the first time, walking down the aisle towards him. I see the foreshadows of our wedding reception when I eat and drink communion at church with those who will be there at the real thing. I have an idea of how God the Father will look with pride at His Son as He marries His bride, whom He has made beautiful.
I have yet to experience this. I'm still longing. My confused heart is still hoping to find total fulfillment in something or someone else before the time of my celestial marriage. As I write this, I see several attractive guys in this coffee shop who I know can't fulfill me or even move me as deeply as thinking ahead towards my union with Christ who I have never seen who said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
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