separation and opposition…

transitions cause us to be lonely when we go through changes and separation causes loneliness.   

we are looking at paul and his story in 2 timothy 4.  he is in prison so he is isolated from those he loves.  and he asks timothy to come see him.  he says (ms), get here as fast as you can.  in verses 9 and 21 he mentions seven of his different friends.  they are his closest friends that he missed.  he says, demas… left me here, crescens is in galatia…, titus in dalmatia, luke is the only one with me ... erastus stayed behind in corinth, i had to leave trophimus sick in miletus. 

paul was a people person.  he never went anywhere by himself.  he always had a traveling companion, yet here at the end of his life he’s in prison in a foreign country and he can’t just pick up the phone and reach out and touch somebody.  he’s lonely because he’s separated.

twenty-five percent of all americans move every year.  as a result we have no roots.  that can cause loneliness.  separation by the army, by the career, by an illness.  that’s a separation and that’s a cause of loneliness.

maybe that is true of you.

opposition causes loneliness.  when you’re attacked.  when you’re ridiculed, when you’re criticized.  verse 14 (niv), alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm.  it doesn’t say what, but the word “harm” literally means “opposed” or “resisted”.  it says, he strongly opposed our message.

                           

now little kids are ruthless on the playground.  one minute the fickle finger of popularity changes.  one minute you’re the hero, the next minute you’re the zero.  that can be lonely.  lonely when you’re going through a painful experience and nobody understands.  lonely when you’re suffering a grief while everybody else is having fun.  lonely when you’re misunderstood and embarrassed and criticized.  the temptation is to withdraw into a shell.  paul didn’t do that.

just a thought from the front porch…