Forty Days Without FearSample

OVERCOMING FEAR OF LONELINESS

There has never been a time in history when the world has been more connected than it is today. We can instantly reach people on the other side of the world, and we can communicate with friends and family on all kinds of social media platforms - Whatsapp, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the list goes on! There are many positive aspects to these, but they can also increase our fears and insecurities.

We see the party on Snapchat that everyone’s at, except us. We see everyone else living the dream on Facebook, holiday after holiday, celebration after celebration, but we’re just going through the motions of life. It seems from Instagram, all our close mates are dating, getting engaged or married, which only fuels our sense of loneliness.

We can think that if we were invited to the parties, we would feel less alone; if we had more stuff and holidays, we would feel happier; if we got married, we would feel more secure. The truth is ‘people can still feel lonely in a crowd’ and changing our external circumstances won’t change us; only an inward transformation can do that. 

The older I get, the more I realize there is only one person who can complete any of us – and His name is Jesus. No matter how sociable or popular we are, at some point we will all encounter feelings of loneliness if we are not in relationship with Him. 

When we give our lives to walking with Jesus, we never walk alone! He comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit, so everywhere we go, He goes too. We can be sociable people, but our security relies on drawing confidence and strength from Jesus within us, rather than from the people who surround us. We don’t need to fear a lonely life; we can enjoy abundant life in God, and with His family!

Action: Pause and take some time to think about the Holy Spirit within us. Does He want us to know anything? Let Him fill us afresh and ask who He wants us to include in our lives today.