Looking in the Wrong Place by Martin Wiles

As the early morning light was chasing away the darkness, they arrived at their destination. But they didn’t find what they pursued. They were in the wrong place.

Women were among Jesus’ staunchest supporters. A group of them had watched as Jesus was taken from the cross and carried to a tomb. When the Sabbath ended, they made their early morning trek to the tomb to properly prepare his body.

Uncertainty over how they’d remove the large stone covering the entrance didn’t stop them. As it turned out, they didn’t have to fret after all. The stone was gone, but so was the body. They, like so many others, hadn’t grasped Jesus’ earlier pronouncements that he’d rise again.

Angels appeared to them, and one cautioned that they were searching in the wrong place. Why do you seek the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5 NKJV)

I too have been guilty of trying to find something living among what’s dead…or more appropriately…I’ve looked for fulfillment in the wrong places. Only when Jesus appeared to the women did they realize their mistake. Imagining a living Savior was in a cold dark tomb was like traveling down a dead end street. We live on one, and the only way out is to turn around and go back the way you came.

Sinful habits, unhealthy practices, and careless living are all dead end streets that evidence pursuing fulfillment in the wrong places. Satisfaction is only discovered through a relationship with a living Savior wherein I learn to trust him day by day for my deepest needs. I can’t handle life…its temptations or its trials, but Christ in me can.

Learn to look in the right place for strength to conquer life’s temptations and uncertainties as well as the human tendency toward selfishness.

Prayer: Father God, when we’re tempted to speed down life’s dead end alleys looking for fulfillment, turn us around to the abundance found in You.

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