lonely_benchAn Associated Press article dated August 6th, 2006, caught my eye. It was titled, “Americans try to connect as loneliness grows: Need for companionship rises as more live alone and have fewer friends.” You would think that our modern world would have solved our loneliness problem. As the article pointed out, “The nation has never been more populous, soon to reach the 300 million mark. And it has never been more connected – by phone, e-mail, instant message, text message, and on and on. Yet so many are alone in the crowd.” The same article quoted a study revealing that in 1985 10% of Americans said they had no close friends, but as of 2006 that number had grown to 25%. How tragic!

In the midst of our increasingly isolated culture, it is so good to know that we don’t have to feel alone. God Himself understands our deep need for human companionship. In fact, it is very interesting that the only negative thing that God said about His creation was, “It is not good for the man to be alone…” (Genesis 2:18). It was loneliness that prompted God to look at His creation and provide Eve as a companion for Adam.

The Lord continues to show that He cares about our need for genuine relationships. God has established local groups of believers (or churches) largely so we can form intimate friendships. Take a minute to read Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12. Notice that God uses the human body as a way to picture what local groups of believers should be like. Could anything be more intimate than being a part of the same body?

These intimate relationships do not happen automatically, of course. First we must have a relationship with Jesus Christ because He is pictured as the head of the body. Jesus is the head because He is the source of everything we need. We must begin with an intimate relationship with the One who created all of us. That relationship begins when we surrender our lives to Christ, and accept His payment for our sins. Then we can know, “He

[Christ] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13–14). Jesus made this promise to His followers, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

No matter how lonely you feel right now, please know that when you begin a relationship with Christ, you will never be alone again – never again! That’s true because loneliness cannot exist when we are aware of the unwavering presence of God’s love. The same God who created the world said, “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken” (Isaiah 54:10).

If you want to be sure that you have a genuine relationship with the God of the universe, then search the Bible. I would be glad to help you in that search in any way that I can. There is a very good 8 minute message on the internet that answers the question “I’ve Never Read the Bible. Where Should I Start?” You can find it at www.desiringgod.org/interviews/i-ve-never-read-the-bible-where-should-i-start.