Tuesday, October 31, 2006
One lousy moose; that's all our family wanted to see. The moose did not get the memo. Or he did get the memo and he took off. We were on our first trip to Alaska years ago, and all five Hutchcrafts were determined to meet a moose. After all, they're grazing in every backyard in Alaska, right? Well, the February we were there it looked like they'd all decided to winter in the Bahamas. While I was busy speaking at some meetings, my wife and kids were out driving around, of course looking for a moose. They even went to the animal sanctuary where they were told there was always a moose. Not always. Several people told us about hitting a moose that suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. Not any road we were on. Someone suggested leaving a Hershey bar on our car - something about chocolate mousse. Well, we weren't that desperate. Well, lots of looking, no finding. The next morning, we drove down the driveway of the house someone had loaned to us and guess what? Three moose, grazing at the end of the driveway. You don't find moose - they find you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "How to Find the Love of Your Life."
Okay, if you're single, fasten your seat belt for a moose truth. Finding the right mate is a lot like finding a moose. You don't find Miss or Mr. Right by looking for them, which is what so many single people are led to believe they're supposed to be doing. And the longer you've been searching, the more desperate you can become. If you look at the out-of-control divorce rates around us, don't you find yourself saying, "There must be a better way"? There is.
Of course, if you want to find the best way to do anything important in life, check with the One who invented love; who invented relationships - God. Here's what He says in Psalm 37:4-5, our word for today from the Word of God. It covers many things in life. But as I read it right now, think of it in terms of your desire to find the love of your life. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this."
God says, "Pursue Me. I'll take care of the desires of your heart." Not "pursue that guy" or "pursue that girl," but "Pursue Me." As you make God your source of love and worth and completeness, you're in a position for Him to send you what you could never find! Like those crazy moose on our doorstep. We didn't find them by looking. It's when we stopped looking for them that we finally found them. The question is, "Will you trust God enough to release to Him all of your deepest needs for love, for belonging, for security, for worth?" How do you know you can trust Him with the deepest parts of you? Anyone who loved you enough to die for you will never do you wrong!
Concentrate on making friends with the opposite sex. The best romances were great friendships first, because marriage is ultimately life's greatest friendship. That's what you need to be pursuing. Ask God to help you build God-honoring relationships that don't have a romantic agenda. He knows what you need more than you ever will. And He can, in the next ten minutes, bring the person He's prepared for you into your life. You won't find Mr. or Miss Right. God will bring him or her to you. Right now, He wants you to focus on Him without the distraction of some guy or girl, so He can make you the man or woman He's created you to be.
You can resign from this neurotic emotional roller coaster of "The Hunt" and relax in your completeness in Jesus Christ, which puts you in the best possible situation for love to find you. The best love - the love God made for you. So let your prayer be the wonderful commitment of the man who brought Isaac's wife to him. You'll find it in Genesis 24:44, "Let her (or let him) be the one the Lord has chosen." Or, in the words of the plaque my daughter had up in her room as a teenager: "God reserves His very best for those who leave the choice to Him."