YOU MAY BE ALONE; BUT YOU NEEDN'T BE LONELY

You may be alone; but you needn’t be lonely.

We live with a massive society with thousands of people within miles of most of us at any given time and yet we live a life that is mostly separated, highly isolated. We wake, go to work, come home; such is life. Such lives are often lonely and while we are often alone, we needn’t ever be lonely.

“AND WHEN HE HAD SENT THE MULTITUDES AWAY, HE WENT UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN APART TO PRAY: AND WHEN THE EVENING WAS COME, HE WAS THERE ALONE.” MATTHEW 14:23 Jesus often intentionally separated Himself with the intent to be alone, but He was not lonely while in these seasons of isolation, because these seasons of isolation were also seasons of prayer. While He was apart from people He was in presence of His Heavenly Father, so He was not alone at all.

If you and I are to learn the value of being alone, we must first defeat the specter of loneliness. We can most easily do this by entering into a living relationship with our Creator God. The old hymn says, “AND HE WALKS WITH ME AND HE TALKS WITH ME AND HE TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN AND THE VOICE I HEAR FALLING ON MY EAR, NONE OTHER HAS EVER KNOWN.” Is the writer trying to indicate that God has never had conversation with any other person? No! He is saying though that his relationship to God is a personal one, where they fellowship together in such intimacy that he is never alone.

Secondly, you may be alone, but needn’t be lonely because there are others around you who have needs greater than your own. While Jesus was often alone, he was never lonely because He was constantly about His father’s business of caring for others; “AND JESUS WENT ABOUT ALL THE CITIES AND VILLAGES, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, AND HEALING EVERY SICKNESS AND EVERY DISEASE AMONG THE PEOPLE. MATTHEW 9:35 Nothing keeps youth in our bones as does the practice of caring more about others than you do for yourself. Nothing makes us more aware of God’s mercy than seeing it poured out around us. I never minister that I do not get ministered to, whether that is my intent or not. If I need hope, I should become hope, if I need mercy, I should show mercy, if I am sick and I need healing, I should pray for the needs of others. Nothing heals or ministers or encourages us more than when we allow God to use us to become vessels of healing, ministers, and encouragers for others.

Finally, we who believe live only by to points of doctrine; “LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL AND MIND AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. If only we endeavor to love God and others more than ourselves, we may be alone, but we needn’t ever be lonely. For before we can love either God or man more, we, like John the Baptist must love ourselves less; with him we must say, “HE MUST INCREASE AND I MUST DECREASE”. If when we are alone we are focusing upon ourselves, we become lonely, if however we always keep God and others before ourselves we will seldom be lonely.

Father God, we have each one, suffered loss. We are each given repeated opportunities to become lonely, my pray is that our seasons alone may become seasons of prayer and times of worship to you through service for others. AMEN!


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