THE REALITY OF LONELINESS

The issue of loneliness has been given less attention in the church for awhile.  No wonder many counselling centres today are filled with people struggling from several unresolved issues including loneliness.  Unfortunately, the average Christian believes that when you pray about every problem, you will be fine.  It is common knowledge that if prayer was really the answer to all of our problems, life would have been better for some people than it is today.  There are some issues of life including loneliness that receives practical knowledge to free you.

A study be psychoanalyst Michael Whitenburgh from Liverpool, England revealed that the greatest fear of many Britons beyond claustrophobia, beyond the fear of insects, and beyond the fear of flying—is the fear of loneliness.

I see loneliness to be an uncommonly common problem that exists everywhere, among all kinds of individuals, regardless of race, colour, and gender.  The rich, poor, married, unmarried, spiritual, and unspiritual people all suffer from loneliness.

To be lonely is to have a feeling of emptiness in an individual; it is a feeling of isolation and separation from the rest of the world.  Loneliness is also a state of feeling cut-off from people you desire to have a close relationship with.

The painful awareness of lacking meaningful contact with other people you love can trap you into loneliness.

Three Levels Of Loneliness

This kind of loneliness involves the lack of intimate relationship with another person or group of people.  Often, the emotional lonely person seriously feels alone and can only recover by establishing new and intimate fellowships with other people.  It is clear from God’s Word that we have not received the spirit of fear and timidity, but of a sound mind.  Everything to do with the emotions is linked with the mind.  When your mind is in a good state, your emotions will be.  Guard your mind with all diligence.

This kind of loneliness will make its victim feel aimless, anxious, and empty.  The affected person or persons begin to feel not part of it or the feeling of a stranger.  This kind of person will not just need a relationship with a specific individual.  The socially lonely person needs a supportive group of friends that will accept him and encourage his skills, goals, and abilities.          

This is the kind of loneliness which could affect people whose relationship with God is broken and beginning to feel life has no more purpose or meaning.  When we have a relationship with Jesus Christ and that relationship is affected by some kind of sin or problem, it can lead a person into a state of unforgiveness and feelings of failure.  A situation like this kind can seriously affect an individual’s relationship with God.  Such people need consistent and committed relationship with Jesus Christ, which could be within the confines of a local community of believers.