Complete in Christ

A friend once told me about buying a used phone that always seemed to die halfway through the day. No matter how long he charged it overnight, by the afternoon, the battery was nearly empty. So he started adjusting everything around the problem—closing apps, dimming the screen, carrying a portable charger everywhere—trying to squeeze more life out of a phone that seemed constantly drained. Eventually, a technician opened it and discovered the issue: the battery connection inside had come loose. The phone actually had the power it needed the whole time, it just wasn’t properly connected.

In many ways, that’s what life can feel like. We walk around with a sense that something in us is always running low. So we start adjusting the circumstances of our lives. We chase accomplishments, relationships, financial security, physical improvement, recognition, or even spiritual discipline—hoping that if we arrange life correctly, the feeling of incompleteness will disappear.

Most of us live with the sense that something in us is unfinished. It shows up in everyday thoughts: If I could just get my finances together, then I’d feel secure. Once I lose the weight, then I’ll feel confident. We imagine the right relationship will complete us, or that recognition at work or with family will finally quiet the restless part of our soul. Sometimes we even chase completeness spiritually—reading more books, listening to more sermons, becoming more disciplined Christians, taking more responsibility at church, hoping that if we improve enough, we will finally feel whole. Yet even when we gain some of those things, the sense of incompleteness often lingers.

Into that restless search, Scripture speaks with clarity: “In Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Colossians 2:10). Not that you will be complete someday if you improve enough, or once you finally fix your life. Paul’s words point to a present reality. In Christ, the believer has been filled and lacks absolutely nothing essential with God. Our deepest need—reconciliation with God, a restored identity, and a place of belonging—has already been satisfied through Jesus the Christ.

This does not mean our lives are finished projects. We have much growing, repenting, learning, and maturing to do. But our growth is no longer a desperate attempt to earn worth. Instead, it is the unfolding of a completeness already given. The world tells us we must build ourselves through success, relationships, possessions, or constant self-improvement. The gospel proclaims better news to us: our completeness is not achieved—it is received!

So when the familiar pressure returns—the feeling that you must prove yourself, fix yourself, or finally become “enough”— remember where your fullness actually comes from. Your completeness is not waiting in the next accomplishment, the next relationship, or the next improved version of yourself. It is already anchored in the person of Jesus the Christ. From that place of fullness, you are free to live, grow, and follow Him without fear of feeling unfinished in the eyes of God.