What makes life meaningful? Does having riches, influence, or fame mean that a person is living their life to the fullest? Those who are educated, wealthy, or well-known are perceived as having lived their lives to the fullest. On the other hand, those who do not have such accomplishments are widely regarded as miserable.

However, should one's accomplishments in life and worth as a person be measured in monetary terms? Does being poor with no education or influence make a person's earthly existence meaningless? In the eyes of the Creator, are people who are influential and well-off better than people who do not possess worldly qualities that are considered by society as admirable?

What does it mean when one has lived their life to the fullest?

After King Solomon enumerated of his earthly accomplishments and eventually realized that they were all in vain (Ecclesiastes 2:4, 8-9; Ecclesiastes 2:20-22), he concluded that the very purpose of a person's existence is to fear the Lord and obey His commandments.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.

─ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 21st Century King James Version

We are exhorted to remember our Creator while we still have our life and strength. Hence, our services to God should be on top of our priority list.

Remember your Creator while you are young, before the bad times come─before the years come when you say, 'I have wasted my life.' Remember your Creator while you are young, before the time comes when the sun and the moon and the stars become dark to you─before problems come again and again one storm after another. At that time your arms will lose their strength. Your legs will become weak and bent. Your teeth will fall out, and you will not be able to chew your food. Your eyes will not see clearly.

─ Ecclesiastes 12:1-3 Easy-To-Read Version

To "remember" our Creator means to know or recognize Him.

Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

─ Psalm 100:2-3 New King James Version

We can prove that we know or recognize God by obeying His commandments.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

─ 1 John 2:3-4 New King James Version

Fame, money, and power does not make one's life meaningful.

It is when one submits wholeheartedly to the will of God that they are living their life to the fullest.

Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, and he could not be found. Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble.

─ Psalms 37:34-39 New King James Version

Let us remember our Maker while we still have our life and strength. Let us strive to follow all of His commandments. And then, even if we gained little to no earthly wisdom, material wealth, or power, we can say without hesitation that we have lived our lives to the fullest.