What will fulfill us? What brings true life? Some people think success will fulfill us. But then we hear celebrities warning us about the empty promises of success. Consider Tom Brady. He radiates success. He’s won the Super Bowl multiple times! But listen to what Tom said in an old interview, “Why do I have three super rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me…I think, there’s gotta be more than this.”

If success doesn’t fulfill, what will? Other people turn inwards. If we would find true life, they say, we must look inside. Life escapes us because society has suppressed our deepest desires. So, be true to yourself. Find and express those desires. Then, make society affirm those desires. But turning inward locks people into a prison of their own desires and drains them of life.

So, what do we do? Jesus tells us in Mark 8:34–37 (NIV), “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

Success forfeits your soul. Self-expression steals your life. But the Savior rescues your life. Jesus lost his life on the cross so he might save yours. Jesus brings us to God. God made us for himself, like the way God made a fish for water. In the water, the fish enjoys true life. But out of the water, the fish loses its life. Outside of Jesus Christ, we lose our life. But in Christ, we discover true life.