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PROGRAM D-8243
Are you a lonely person? We’re exploring the loneliness epidemic. With the presence of Christ in our lives, we need not be lonely, no matter how alone we may be.
Why, then, are so many Christians lonely? Because they don’t practice the presence of Christ in their lives. This means you intentionally and on a daily basis remember and live in the truth that Jesus is there with you, 24/7. You “practice” his presence—you develop the habit of calling on him, talking to him, inviting him to be a part of your life at all times.
Could it be that you’re not practicing his presence because there is some sin that keeps you from sweet, intimate fellowship with God? If you’re living in disobedience to God and you know it, that could be the cause of your loneliness since it’s destroying the sense of God’s presence in your life.
Many Christians don’t know God’s presence because they don’t spend time with him. You can’t practice his presence very well if you’re not saturating your life with God’s Word and prayer, and that definitely can lead to feeling lonely.
Many are lonely because they refuse to change their thinking about aloneness. They’re like the little boy who was afraid of going to bed in the dark. His father said to him, “Son, you don’t have to be afraid. Jesus is with you.” And the boy replied, “I know, Dad, but I want someone with skin on.”
So often when I share with a lonely person that Jesus can dispel their loneliness, their non-verbal reaction is, “Yes, but that’s not the way I want it to be. I want someone with skin on.”
Not long after I had come back to God and made him Lord of my life, I was sitting in my office one Wednesday when it occurred to me that I was facing a weekend with no plans! For singles, that can be seen as the worst of all fates! In a slight panic I reached for my phone to start calling friends. As I started to dial, the Holy Spirit quietly said to me, “Can’t you trust me? The weekends are in my control just as much as the other days. You can make a weekend alone—with me!”
My somewhat fearful response was, “Okay, Lord, I’ll prove that you are God of the weekends, too.” So, I made plans to be alone with God for those two weekend evenings. There were some tense moments when I again found myself thinking, “Something must be wrong with me, or I wouldn’t be by myself on a Saturday evening.”
But I took my Bible, sat down, and asked God to again show me he was God, even of the weekends. I ran into God as my refuge, and I was free—free from the need to have someone around all the time, and free from those self-pitying, self-centered feelings of loneliness. Though it’s a lesson I have had to re-learn from time to time, I can tell you that it actually became a treat to have some quiet Saturday nights by myself. It was a turning point for me, dispelling the fear of being alone. If that is more or less where you are, God wants to do the same for you.