“Looking for love in all the wrong places…” This song made popular in 1980 by Johnny Lee is iconic to the plight of our culture. People in desperate search of meaning through relationships, and if that can’t happen, then through some other type of fulfillment. The song describes a man that was going to singles’ bars and any place that most people would go to find quick, meaningless relationships. However, it seems that he didn’t really want that, instead he wanted a friend and someone who would really love him.
I won’t pretend the song had much of a spiritual undertone to it, but perhaps it’s representative of how people are constantly looking for something, or someone, to bring meaning to their life. What they search for in those places will always be elusive. Regardless of how close they get to what appears to be the “real deal” it slips out of their fingers or leaves them at a dead end.
Sadly, the search isn’t only made by lonely bar-hoppers, but by people in the church as well. Some religious analysts have suggested that the age of contemporary worship is coming to a close. That may be up for debate; however, the dropout rate in those arenas aren’t much less than the dropout rate among more conservative churches. Where are they going? What are they looking for? Why can’t they find it?
We need a pattern, just like an engineer, an architect, or even a surgeon, knowing what everything should look like in the end is crucial to success. It’s just as important for a person who is searching for meaning, because without a pattern to follow anything or everything can be a possibility. The result is a person looks for meaning in all the wrong places. The human mind and heart is typically only going to take so much before it gives up in the search. Satan has offered plenty of detours that lead us to nowhere we want to be.
Jeremiah 17:9, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” And Solomon recognized that a search in the wrong place was equal to “meaningless.” But we, and Johnny Lee, should know the appropriate places to find someone that genuinely loves us and cares about us; the better question is “Am I willing to go there?”
Our goal can’t be in a job, a sport, a school, a hobby, or even a spouse. Those things are fine in their proper place, but the only way to experience true and genuine love is in Christ. That’s where all the hope is found, and he’s also our pattern to follow.
Paul wrote an encouraging letter to a church in Philippi who had set out on a mission to help spread the gospel. Like a lot of us, they started out strong but problems cropped up occasionally. Comparatively, their problems were far less than many other churches, but they were problems that may have caused some to consider going somewhere else. But Paul reminds them in Philippians 1:6, “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Stay faithful to the plan.
He also appealed to them not to forget what they had seen and, more likely, heard in the example Jesus left for us. Philippians 2:3-5, “Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” Understand the designer. Love is understood best when we give it, rather than always looking to receive it. Love will come when love is given. Be the light the rest of the world is desperately searching for.
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