“Looking for love in all the wrong places,

Looking for love in too many faces,

Searching their eyes, looking for traces,

Of what I’m dreaming of…”

It amazes me that I can remember the lyrics to that entire song from 1980. I don’t even like country music, but it was what my parents listened to when I was growing up, so it was sort of force fed to me. I can recall lyrics to far more 1970s and 80s country songs than I care to admit. It’s a curse, really. I can’t remember where I put my phone, but hum a few bars of a Statler Brothers hit, and I’ll sing the whole song for you.

I have no explanation for why this particular song ran out of the eighties and through my mind today. I do know that the premise of the song holds true, though. No matter what it is that we seek in this life, chances are, we are looking in the wrong place and often accepting weak counterfeits when the real thing seems out of reach.

When Jesus was here in the flesh and teaching people how to live, he knew there were things that we desperately wanted… things that would drive us to unbelievable lengths to obtain. He knew that we worried we might never have the very things we thought we must have, and that those things would consume our thoughts and actions. To set our minds at ease, He told us how to handle these desires we have. He said,

“Seek first, the kingdom of God, and then all these things will be added to you” Matthew 6:33.

No matter what it is that we want or are hoping to have, if we are looking anywhere besides Jesus, we are looking in the wrong place. I mean think about it. What if there truly was a way to have everything we ever wanted? And what if the way to get those things was in simply turning our attention to Jesus? Can it really be that easy? I mean, that’s not really all that hard, is it? It’s just a shift in our focus. A course correction. It’s not like the way to everything we want is at the finish line of a triathlon, or at the summit of Mount Everest. He didn’t send us on a quest to find the Ghost Orchid in order have all that we want.

We just have to stop looking for what we want in all the wrong places, and find it all in Jesus. He wants us to want Him, first… and THEN all these things will be added to us… then. The problem, my problem, is that I don’t like the THEN part. I don’t much like waiting for what I want. I just want, and like a little child, I will fret, pout, and finagle my way to try and get what I want. I wonder what that must look like from God’s perspective. There He sits, holding literally everything.

Literally.

Everything.

He sits there holding literally everything, watching us run around like headless chickens trying to snatch and grab for ourselves what we believe we must have. It has to be a pitiful sight. I am embarrassed for us.

“But my God shall supply everything you need, according to his riches in glory.” Philippians 4:19.

He shall supply. It is already His plan to give to His children. He, who owns it all… shall provide- when we seek Him first. Seems like a sweet deal to me. No fretting, no pouting, no finagling, and no elusive Ghost Orchids. Just seeking Him, first.

We tend to complicate things. Jesus makes them easy. We should stop living an 80s country song. We should choose easy.