LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES:

“For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” Psalm 139:13-17  

Young man, you are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. God loves you with an everlasting love. May you come to know this love that is full of amazing grace and mercy. When you come to know this love you will no longer look for love in all the wrong places. Young man, God’s love is satisfying and freeing.

Looking for love in all the wrong places:

You look for love in the frat houses

You look for love in the party houses

You look for love in the rum-bars

You look for love in glasses of alcohol poured from bottles after bottles of strong drinks.

You look for love in the drug houses

You look for love in the company of persons or peoples

But you cannot find love, because you are looking for love in all the wrong places.

The frat houses, the party houses, the rum bars, the glasses of alcohol, the drugs, and the company of persons or peoples cannot satisfy your needs nor give you the love you seek. Yet you kept reaching out to the same places that cannot give you the love you seek. Finally, you hit ‘rock bottom’ and turn to your guns. For some of you it is the gun your parents bought you as a gift, in an effort to replace the love they should have given you instead. Some of you bought yours from the gun shop owned by careless and greedy gun owners who refuse to even notice you were not well – that you were lost and needed their guidance.  

Your parents treated you with kiddy gloves not wanting to hurt your feelings. They’re in denial, refusing to spell out for you the truth you so desperately need to hear. Young man you are not well. You need help. You’re filled with rage, hate, and hopelessness. And with guns in your hand, the guns you bought, the guns your parents gave you instead of the love you deserve, and you set out on the path of destruction. You set out not only to harm yourself but to take innocent lives along with yours. All the while no one told you that you have a problem, no one told you, that you need help. Everyone swept their suspicions under rugs, in denial hoping it would all just go away. But it didn’t go away. Because you didn’t just take your own life, you took theirs too, and you took innocent little lives.  All because you looked for love in all the wrong places.

The places you are looking for love, you will not find it there. You will only find overwhelming hate and rage in your heart at the end of your quest for this love.

That overwhelming hate and rage nearly took the life of my innocent granddaughter recently, while she sleeps in her bed. That rage took the lives of some college students in California, and other innocent bystanders. That rage took the lives of innocent children while they learn in their classroom. That rage brought an entire community to their knees in Connecticut, NY, as they laid their loved ones including many little children to rest. And it is all because you are looking for love in all the wrong places, and no one told you it’s all the wrong places.

You thought you were doing the right thing at the time. But now you regretted it. Now it’s too late. You have not only ended your own life, but you have taken away the lives of innocent people, many of them innocent little children. You cannot bring them back. You cannot undo what you have done.

Too late to murmur the signs you saw in this young man and said nothing. Too late to take back the guns you gave him as a gift when he needed help. Too late to give the love you held back from him when he needed it. Too late to hold him in your arms and say I love you son. Too late to wipe his tears away and tell him we will take care of you. Too late to get him the help he needed. Too late is the cry. And far too long he’d looked for love in all the wrong places.

There is a song which goes like this:

Must I go an empty handed?

Must I leave my savior so?

Not one soul with which to greet him

Must I empty handed go.

When you see a lost young man, will you take him by the hand and lead him to Jesus? Perhaps it is someone close to you. Don’t let the opportunity slip away from you. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Oh generation of lost souls, telling us they are lost either by their actions in the home or publicly. They tell us every day that they are lost in one way or the other. Yet we refuse to listen or to do anything about it until it is too late.

Young man, there is a man name Jesus. God sent him to you and to all the people of the world two thousand years ago to fight the darkness for you. The darkness that blinded you from His marvelous and amazing grace and love for you. This Jesus is God’s Son. God so loved the whole world that He gave his only begotten Son that all who believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus’ love is the only love that will satisfy your hunger for the love you seek. His love is the only love they will quench your thirst for the love you seek.

Jesus fought to satisfy your hunger for love. He fought to quench your thirst for the love you seek. In the process of fighting for you cruel men hung him on a cross that should have been yours. But he willingly allowed them to nail him to that cross in your place. He never did anything wrong. He never shot and killed anyone. He only did good things in the world. He healed those who sentenced him to death, he healed those who pierced him with swords, he healed those who beat him with whips into a bloody mess and nailed him to the cross.  He did it for you young man. Jesus died for you.

He was wounded for your transgressions – your sins, he was crushed for your iniquities – all the bad things you did. He took upon himself the punishment – the beatings that made you whole, and by his bruises – his wounds he healed you. Isaiah 53:5.

Young man, you are wounded, crushed by rejections that may have affected your life. You seek the approval of people and did not receive it. Even though you needed love from those around you, those to whom you reached out, and though you may have felt neglected by your earthly parents your heavenly father never rejected nor abandon you. He loves you. He sent his Son Jesus, to tell you how much God loves you. Jesus will show you genuine love and mercy. Jesus died to heal you everywhere you hurt.

Where are you hurting now? Give your pain to Jesus. Lay your burdens on Him; that is what he is there for.  He left his Word in the Bible for you. You can read it for yourself, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. 

Yes young man, Jesus’ burden is light and when you give him your burdens, He will lavish on you his everlasting and immeasurable love. Jesus’ love will remove your pain everywhere you hurt and set you free from your pain and hurt. You will experience new life in Him.

You have tried everything. Will you try Jesus?

Young man, will you try Jesus?

Let us pray:

Jesus, I heard that you can take away the darkness from my heart.

I heard you can take away the pain, the hurt I feel. If you can take away my pain, my hurt, I am willing to give them up to you. Jesus, please take away my heavy burden, the hate and the rage I feel. Please replace the darkness of hate and rage with your love. Please change my life. Give me a new life in you. Forgive me for those I hurt. You said your yoke is easy and your burden is light. So please take my yoke and my burden and give me yours instead. Jesus, come into my life and be Lord of my life. I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.