YOU ONLY WANT ME WHEN YOU’RE LONELY
In 1951 Jazz guitarist, Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson, penned the following words…
You only want me when you’re lonely.
You only want me when you’re blue.
It’s funny, you never seem to know me,
Whenever there’s somebody new.
How can you say that you love me,
When you know your love for me isn’t true?
So that’s why you always call me when you’re blue,
You know I’ll come runnin’ back to you.
…
This song isn’t about heartbreak. It’s about habit. A habit that I see far too often in our spiritual lives. Too often we point fingers at Judas and the Israelites without realizing that we are no different.
We come to God when we hurt. When we’re empty, we come to Him to fill the space. Not because we love Him, but because we don’t want to be alone. We know Him only when we turn
our backs on someone else. Then we remember God. But not really Him. Just what He gives us.
Each time we come back, we say that this time will be different. But it never is.
“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”—2 Corinthians 7:9-10 ESV
Yet, like the father of the prodigal son, he takes us back (Luke 15:32). Like Hosea returning to his unfaithful wife (Hosea 1), the Lord takes us back.
Why?
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”—Joel 2:12-13 ESV
God does not want a half-hearted relationship. God wants a follower after his own heart, not focused on the fleeting wants of our own hearts.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”—Matthew 6:24 ESV
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”—Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV
On Judgement day, will God look at [the unfaithful] and say,
“You only want me when you’re lonely.
You only want me when you’re blue.
It’s funny, you never seem to know me,
Whenever there’s somebody new.
How can you say that you love me,
When you know your love for me isn’t true?
So that’s why you always call me when you’re blue,
You know I’ll never come runnin’ back to you.”