The Path to Self-Fulfillment
By the end of our life, we want to have seen what we’re made of with as few of regrets as possible. Many people see self-actualization and self-fulfillment as the final step in life. If we have potential, we should do our best to make the most of it in our lives. There’s truth to this, but the true path to self-fulfillment is not the one you hear most often.
Think of the words Jesus used to share with this idea: “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” It’s not quite as comforting as thought at first, but that is only because we often twist it into something it is not. Jesus is not telling us to hate ourselves, to have nothing but self-contempt. Rather, he is telling us to embrace self-denial, that the path to fulfillment is through throwing our sinful pride off and following him. Richard Foster writes about this difference in the Celebration of Discipline:
“Self-contempt claims that we have no worth, and even if we did have worth we should reject it. Self-denial declares that we are of infinite worth and shows us how to realize it. Self-contempt denies the goodness of the creation; self-denial affirms that it was indeed good.. Self-love and self-denial are not in conflict. Jesus made it quite clear more than once that self-denial is the only sure way to love ourselves. ‘He who find his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.’ (Mt. 10:39)”
Don’t miss that difference, for in it is the key to fulfillment. We are not called to hate ourselves, we are called to first submit ourselves to God and in so doing, realize our infinite worth. The world would tell you to first love yourself, to say that you are good enough. Jesus would say that you are not good enough, but that through self-denial and submission, you will learn to find the life you desire. Self-love is still a part of the process, but it comes through understanding our worth as sons and daughters of God. Self-fulfillment means submitting yourself to the lifelong process of holy, joyful devotion to the Lord.
It's beautiful to realize who you truly are, but we must always know that love of ourselves first comes through giving our lives to God. If you want to find the path to self-fulfillment, you must first follow self-denial, and what results will be the eternal worth of an infinite God.
