I’m confident that most of our readers have had the frustrating experience of searching for something they can’t seem to find. It often appears that there is some kind of conspiracy afloat the makes sure that whatever it is you want just ain’t gonna be there! No matter how common your desired object is, you would think that all the manufacturers got together and said; “you know, ole so and so is going to come around asking for a certain thing but we think the demand for it isn’t great enough so let’s just cease to manufacture it.” It may be that you are searching for a men’s white dress shirt with a 16” collar and 33” inch sleeves. Now that’s just about as normal as one can get. This is what you will hear. A very polite sales person will inform you that they don’t have that size in white but they have purple with yellow polka dots on it. Or they have a silver one as well as a beautiful chartreuse one with blue piping on it. Get the picture?
To quote a comedian I am familiar with: “There must be a law about such things. I don’t know.” This law applies to just about anything…hammers, cakes, shoes, umbrellas and a host of other items one might be searching for. The law would read something like this: “If you want it, it has just been discontinued or we don’t carry it anymore.” It’s frustrating and irritating.
Someone recently said that with our shopping area being so big and with so many stores, you can’t find anything. I always thought that was hogwash but I have become increasingly convinced that there is a lot of stuff but nothing you want. The ladies say that there are a lot of stores but they all carry just about the same thing. If you’ve seen one store, you’ve seen them all. Kinda like alligators….seen one you’ve seen them all.
As a Pastor, I often found myself dealing with a person who just couldn’t seem to find themselves in life. They were frustrated and irritated with themselves because they just couldn’t seem to get happy and feel complete. Many people, I have found, fight this battle. The first thing they need to realize is that they are “shopping at the wrong store.” They are looking everywhere for happiness but it just keeps on eluding them. Try as they may, wholeness and completeness are hard to locate and procure. No matter which “store” they enter, their desire for themselves cannot be found. Oh, they can find wholeness and happiness for a while but then, all of a sudden its gone and they are frustrated and disappointed again. I think they are looking in the wrong “store” or trying to purchase the wrong thing. Something is missing.
The first thing that a person who is experiencing a life situation such as I have described needs to learn is that happiness and that “at home” complete feeling is internal, not external. One does not fix life from the outside but from the inside. When the heart is right, then a person’s soul will be right. When a person is struggling with life and its meaning for them, they can’t fix it by adding all the “things” of life. You can’t just dress up life and find meaning from it because life is first of all, internal. It’s down where the heart is. One’s soul must be healthy for life itself to be right. And, most people try to fix life by adding all the “things” of life. Won’t work. Try it as you will but it will not work! Some of the most miserable people I have known over the years are people with a lot of money, huge homes, expensive cars and all the other accoutrements of life but true, satisfying happiness and wholeness are not to be found. Oh, a good time and temporary “happiness” is what they experience but they are searching for something which is meaningful and permanent and it seems to elude them.
There is only one place one can find real happiness in life and that is not in things or position or riches or influence. It is to be found when one goes “shopping” in the right place. When one looks to Jesus Christ for salvation, they will find that the quest for completeness and happiness will be over. The world with all its “stuff” cannot bring what the human being needs. The world can give a person all the things that one might think will make life right. But, life will never be right unless Jesus makes it right from the inside. It’s the only way! There is no other.
Trying to find the meaning for life without Jesus is somewhat like shopping in a store that has everything you might like but nothing you want. The world’s store does not sell salvation through Jesus although it sells thousands of things that one might to add to life but don’t really need. A Christian will have times in this world when things don’t go right and they are depressed and frustrated. We have to live in a world which doles out those things in quantity, but those who are saved through belief in and commitment to Jesus Christ have the means to overcome such things and to bring life back into balance. He will lead you through all the vicissitudes of life. And, that brings the comfort and wholeness that many people are seeking.
So, look in the right place for the answers to life here and hereafter. Look to God’s provision for you. Look to Jesus and He will take you through all the disappointments, frustration, doubt and depressions that everyone deals with and He will ultimately deliver you into God’s Kingdom.
Let me ask this pointed question? Are you wearing yourself out looking for something you can’t find? Are you looking in all the wrong places? That problem is solved when Jesus fixes you on the inside so your outside can be right.
5-4-2024….Wm F. Harrell
