You'll Find Whatever You're Looking For

I have had the wonderful privilege of pastoring five churches, each in different parts of the United States. One of those churches was located only a few hours south of Chicago—which is one of my favorite cities in the world. As a result, we would periodically sponsor road trips to take advantage of the museums, shopping, and sporting events in that world class city. The trips grew in frequency and in popularity, and soon became a headache for the leaders who planned the trips. As a result, many of them eventually tried to do their best to avoid going and began devising ingenious strategies to do so.

The most of hilarious of these strategies was devised by Mrs. Eva Tagger. Mrs. Eva was Mississippi born and bred. She and her husband Roy had raised three daughters, and she had retired after three decades in the financial services industry. Mrs. Eva was smart as a whip and as tough as nails. Mrs. Eva loved God, loved her family, loved our church, and she loved me—in that order.   But she started not to love those trips LOL.

As we were preparing to depart to Chicago on one Saturday, Mrs. Eva called me at 10AM and said “what time is the bus leaving?” I replied “12:30pm.” At 10:45AM, Mrs. Eva called me and said “what time did you say the bus is leaving?’ I replied “At 12:30pm—like I told you 45 minutes ago!” At 11:15AM, Mrs Eva called. “Sorry to bother you again, Pastor. But what time did you said the bus is leaving?” I was a little annoyed, but it was almost impossible for me to get mad at Mrs. Eva, so I just starting laughing and said “Still 12:30PM.” At 12PM, Mrs. Eva called again. “Roy wants to confirm what time the bus is leaving.” By now, I decided to go ahead and join whatever game we were playing. “12:30pm,” I replied. 12:30pm came and went. There was no Mrs. Eva and no Roy. At 1pm, Mrs. Eva called. “What time did you say the bus was leaving again,” she asked? I said “EVA! It left at 12:30pm.” Then, Mrs. Eva responded with a smirk in her voice “Well, I guess I missed it.”

I couldn’t do anything but laugh. I was reminded of that story after I recently came across a principle that I think is worth sharing. I don’t remember where I read it (or heard it) or who said it, but it is as true and helpful as any statement that I have come across in a very long time. The author said that “if you are interested, you will find a way. But if you aren’t interested, you will find an excuse.” The truth was Mrs. Eva never wanted to go on that trip in the first place. All of those calls were just excuses she was using to justify her fear or unwillingness to tell me the truth. Or perhaps she didn’t want to disappoint me. I still am not sure what her motive was. But whatever her motive was in making those calls, the truth is she just didn’t want to go. She wasn’t interested.

I have finally accepted the fact that if people are not interested, they just aren’t interested. It doesn’t matter how badly you want them to be interested, or how badly they should be interested. If there is zero interest, there will be zero participation. If there is zero interest, there will be zero investment. If there is zero interest, there will be zero support. They will simply find excuses to justify their lack of participation, investment and support. This means that we have to accept people as they are—not as we want them to be. Otherwise, we will be constantly disappointed, ineffective, and frustrated. If someone is not interested, they will find an excuse.

But if someone is legitimately interested in a subject, an idea, or a relationship, they will find a way. This is what Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell meant when they sang “ain’t no mountain high enough to keep me from loving you.” If you truly love someone, you’ll find a way to see them. If you truly are interested in learning, you will find a way to study. And if you are truly interested in achieving success, you will find a way to win. This truth is confirmed in scripture. There was a man named Zacchaeus with a questionable past who wanted to see Jesus. According to Luke 19:1-7, this is what happened:

Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by. When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him.

Zacchaeus could have used any number of excuses to prevent him from seeing Jesus. He was short. And the crowd was in the way. But Zacchaeus found a way. Here’s the lesson: you will find whatever you’re looking for. If you are not interested, you’ll find an excuse. If you are interested, you’ll find a way.

If you really want to lose weight, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.

If you really want your marriage to work, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.

If you really want to save money, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.

So do me a favor: stop lying to yourself, and to everybody else.

If you keep making excuses about what you don’t have and what you can’t get and where you can’t go, the truth is pretty simple.

You ain’t interested!