Wednesday, June 27, 2012

a common cause of loneliness…

one of the most painful kind of emotion is loneliness.  it is an awful feeling.  and in 2 timothy 4 we have an example of paul and how he overcame loneliness.

now paul was at the end of his life.  2 timothy is the last book paul ever wrote.  so chapter 4 are the last words that paul ever wrote.  he was an old man, in prison in rome and he was waiting to be executed by nero.  all of his friends had left him and paul was a very lonely man. 

in this story, we see some common causes of loneliness.  a lot of times we bring loneliness upon ourselves.  but it's the uncontrollable kind that we’re going to look at here on the front porch.

now we find that transitions in life is a common cause of lonelines.  passages.  they are the changes in life that we go through.  the fact is, life is a series of transitions.  we’re born.  we grow up.  we go to school.  we graduate.  we get jobs.  we change jobs.  we retire.  we die. life is a series of changes.  every time you make a change in life there is a tendency to feel loneliness.  any major change can cause loneliness. 

now paul here is an old man.  he’s faced with the inevitable.  he’s about ready to die.  in chapter 4.6 (niv) he says, for i am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near..  i’ve fought the good fight, i’ve finished the race, i’ve kept the faith.   he says, i know my time is short.  the end is near.  nero is going to execute me.  i’m going through a transition.

why is it we often leave people who are dying alone?  people who live in rest homes.  they’ve done studies that the loneliest people in the world are elderly men who are sick.  they’re alone. transitions in life can be a lonely time. 

transitions cause us to be lonely when we go through changes.

Just a thought from the front porch…

No comments: