4-12-2016

       Good Morning All!!

            Genesis 2:18; “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

    Elvis Presley sang about being lonesome tonight.  In an episode of M*A*S*H, Hawkeye told Radar about how his father had no one after Hawkeye’s mother died.  He told him that “loneliness is everything it is cracked up to be.”  We are not meant to be alone.  This is what God is telling us in our verse, we should not be alone.  Yet this goes beyond the simple understanding that God instituted marriage at this point or even that humans are social creatures.  This reality goes to the point that, spiritually, we are not to be alone either.

    Originally, Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the morning.  They communed together constantly.  For Adam and Eve this meant incredible calm and perfect peace.  It meant that their day was always a day of comfort and peace.  Then when sin entered the world, man separated himself from God.  We chose to walk alone.  In that aloneness, the devil has a tremendous time of fun; fun for him not for us.  The devil loves to torment and to cause us all sorts of pain and sorrow.  The devil’s favorite time is at death.  Death is the devil’s best friend.  We are all going to die and the devil wants you to think that you die all alone and when you die everything else is over. 

     Fear of being alone and of making a new trip alone are two of the deepest fears that many people experience.  Loneliness is the experience of the entire weight of the struggle on one person’s shoulders.  These are what the devil want you to live, every single day.  Yet this is the very thing that Jesus came to destroy.  He came to destroy loneliness and the pain associated with it.  Jesus came that you would always have a companion, a friend, an advocate.  He told his disciples that he would send them one who would remind them of the promises that God has made to us.  He would send one who would always be with us in all of life events.  He sent the Holy Spirit to be our companion. 

    While most of us know and recognize that God is with us; sometimes we like to be able to touch our companion.  This is where God encourages us as brothers and sisters in Christ to reach out to the lonely.  Invite them for dinner; try to involve them in activities as best we can.  This is part of our fellowship, part of being of one body.  No one should ever have to feel alone, at any time, given the presence of the Spirit and the presence of the Church to offer comfort, hope, companionship, support and God’s love.  This is what our fellowship is about, walking the path of faith together.  If you are lonely, seek out your church they will help.  If you know someone who is lonely, reach out with comfort to them to help heal them.

Father of all grace, you have told us it is not good to be alone.  Send your comfort to the lonely and strengthen us by your Spirit to always know your presence.  Use us Father as the arms and voices to bring comfort to the hurting, the afflicted and the lonely.  Send your healing to the suffering.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret