The Endurance of Solitude

If you're going to be a Disciple of Christ and a follower of the Lord Jesus, one of the things that you will have to accept is the reality of being Alone. Being Alone is not a popular social condition in our society today. With all of the social media and constant interaction with people over the internet, it seems like human interaction is a phenomenon that is supposed to take place 24/7. But when you're following Jesus, when you're committed to serving the Lord, the dynamics of human interaction change drastically. For those who plan to go with Jesus "all the way", we must begin to learn The Endurance of Solitude.

Let's be honest and admit that the majority of the population (regardless of national status or geographical location) is not trying to follow Jesus. It's one thing to profess Christianity, it's another thing to be an ardent, die-hard Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus said that many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22). Isolation and estrangement are a bitter pill to swallow. Most if not all of us, want to be accepted and want to be received. But the reality of the true Christian journey is that most of the time, we will not. It is The Endurance of Solitude.

Being Alone is one thing. Standing by yourself is hard enough. But having to internalize a sense of alienation and ostracization in the midst of a group or a crowd, can be very unsettling-emotionally and psychologically. This is where a lot of Christians fall short. Because we are so conditioned to be regulated by "social reinforcement", when we don't receive it, we faint and give up the race. We just begin to "blend in" so that we don't stick out and "offend" anybody. This is not the Will of God. If it were just a crowd of "strangers", it might be a little different. But how do you handle when your own "family" begins to question you and criticize you? How do you handle it when your biggest adversary is actually your spouse or your children? What do you do when the people in your own congregation begin to turn on you? Such is The Endurance of Solitude.

The scripture says in the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint John, that Jesus "came unto His own and His own received Him not". Jesus understood the challenge of experiencing The Endurance of Solitude. He knew what it was like to be Alone, to be misunderstood, to be rejected and mistreated. But this did not deter Him from His Divine Mission, and neither should it deter us. Jesus was able to embrace The Endurance of Solitude because He understood that the Father was always with Him (John 8). And saints, we have the same Assurance. The Lord has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13). If we're going to follow Jesus to the Cross, we're not going to be able to depend on earthly support or human reinforcement. We must depend strictly and solely on Divine Assurance and Support from the Lord. It's the only way that we'll be able to meet the challenge of The Endurance of Solitude.