Trials & Tribulations
April 20, 2026
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have
Fulfillment? Do I even have time for that? I have needs like food, shelter, clothing and wants like esteem, vacations, respect, power.
In a Pew Research Center report dated September 14, 2023 “Public Has Mixed Views on the Modern American Family” Section 5. What Makes for a Fulfilling Life? by Kim Parker and Rachel Minkin 1 the following statistics were gleaned:
71% of all American adults list job or career enjoyment is extremely or very important
61% note having close friends is equally important to job or career
25% count having children as extremely or very important
23% listed marriage as extremely or very important for a fulfilling lifetime
24% thought money was extremely or very important
Gen Z’s view of workplace-driven satisfaction crashed in 2020 when remote work became the COVID norm. The promise of satisfying relationships, mentoring, personal feedback all became distant hopes as isolation tended to prevail during the empty office experience. Part of the disconnect expressed was in the initial dearth of contacts to learn new, advanced skills to continue preparing the worker for new challenges and the fear of being passed over for new opportunities. 2
One of the startling observations of these reports is that fulfillment was so dependent upon factors beyond the individual’s sense of being—not as much who they were but what they did to identify themselves in the midst of a culture. There is a certain poverty that comes from the co-dependent sense of fulfillment. If you are satisfied primarily through the opinions of others upon your value, you likely will never be enough for a lasting sense of contentment. Another element appeared to be the sense of busy-ness, of always being productive, striving to complete more and not necessarily that which has lasting value. Busy in work, sports, recreation, social events, church, clubs—perpetually in motion, too much to do, always a little behind expectations.
Let us consider another path of fulfillment, that which is centered in the God-based life. Paul and Silas had been beaten, locked in stocks in the Philippi prison, at midnight were singing when an earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, loosening the prisoners… Yes, that Philippi. Years later, Paul writes Philippians to the church that continued there and had been supportive of him in the years since his first eventful visit. He writes,
Paul’s sense of fulfillment was not based in circumstances but rather in his contentment in relationship with the Lᴏʀᴅ Jesus. His measure of fulfillment was living in agreement with the desires of God expressed into his life.
Paul had learned that it is enough to be satisfied in being satisfied in Jesus. Satisfying God is greater than any other satisfaction. Being fulfilled is life agreeing in all God created us to be and living out that possibility as the Lᴏʀᴅ enables through His life in us.
Life in agreement with God is what has the greatest possibility of providing fulfillment but not necessarily by the measure of the temporal world. Jesus did not focus on attaining stuff, the measure of success in this world’s system. When approached by a man who had it all except relationship with the Lᴏʀᴅ, Jesus encouraged him to refocus on the eternal,
Even though this man had all the stuff–great possessions–he didn’t have the fulfillment of relationship with God. The man’s original question was an attainment question, “What must I do…” which Jesus answered with the fulfillment secret of ‘follow Me.’ Stuff had the hold on the man’s willingness to go in relationship with God. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the way, that he hadn’t met Jesus, didn’t hear the secret but that he was unwilling to give up his hold on what he valued more than agreement with God. It wasn’t the stuff that kept him away from God but how much more important to him the stuff was than eternal fulfillment. He did not have clarity in his focus on what of value lasts beyond the momentary.
Jesus spoke of the eternal perspective in John 14 which begins with the momentary and quickly moves to the eternal:
Notice that eternal fulfillment isn’t about accumulating temporal stuff but rather belief, knowing what is paramount to the Lᴏʀᴅ and coming into agreement with the Lᴏʀᴅ, taking His desires as our own desires and living out those desires through our lives.
Lest there be a poverty mentality that life in the fulfillment of the Lᴏʀᴅ, Paul addresses fullness,
There is more to reality than the apparent; God has more for us than what we perceive through our senses but we must believe His Word and accept that what is ‘not yet’ is ‘already’ in the eternal.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be
But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able
“… Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”
Glory to God “…and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light…”Editor’s Note: this is
“… How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and
