God's Answer for Loneliness

Be diligent to come to me quickly….Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. 2 Timothy 4:9, 11

When King Solomon wrote that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), he wasn’t speaking literally. Obviously, there were no smartphones when he wrote those words. He was talking about human experience—the repetitive cycles of human life with its ups and downs and joys and defeats. And one of those experiences is loneliness.

Something else that isn’t new is this: our tendency to think we are the only one struggling in a difficult experience like loneliness. But that isn’t true—the Bible contains the records of many servants of God who experienced loneliness. And one of them was the apostle Paul when he was in his final imprisonment before his martyrdom. In 2 Timothy 4:9-18 he recounts how, except for his friend Luke, he was alone in Rome, having been deserted by others. To assuage his loneliness, he asked Timothy to bring Mark to Rome.

What is the Bible’s answer for loneliness? Fellowship within the Body of Christ. The more deeply connected we are with fellow believers, the stronger our defense against loneliness. Connect with others in the Body of Christ and defeat loneliness together.

Loneliness is the first thing which God’s eye named not good.