A few days ago, a teenager asked me why he was an odd fit among his classmates. He added that he found he couldn't play online games when his classmates discussed it. He didn't have a girlfriend when they talked about relationship issues. He had not a word to say when they debated some "bad" topics...
A young people told me what happened on his first day of work in a hotel. His manager asked him, "Do you smoke cigarettes?" He replied, "No."
"Do you drink?"
"No." He answered.
"Do you go whoring?"
He said, "No."
Then the manager said to with a contemptuous look, "What's the meaning of your life!"
We Christians feel lonely in the world. We often want to blend in with our colleagues and friends, but we realize that we are so different from them. Then we have to live in the crowd alone in an obvious way.
If we belong to the world, the world will love us. However, 1 Peter 2:9 claims, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
As people consecrated by God, we have different principles for our life from the world. The purpose of our life is the glory of God and the witness of His glory.
Generations of saints walked on a lonely road, becoming precious witnesses.
Have we ever thought of Abraham's feeling when he took his son Issac to walk on the road after telling his servants to stay away from Mount Moriah? On the way to sacrifice his only son, he must have been deeply lonely. He chose to be a man serving God rather than a father.
We see a solitary figure in Nehemiah. Nehemiah 2:12-16 states, "I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.
By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work."
We see from these verses that a man of God should know the current situation more specifically and accurately. Nehemiah examined the walls of Jerusalem alone, yet he was persistent.
If we serve in the church, we have to go through loneliness: we take the initiative to do what remains undone and devote our time and efforts to things people ignore; we adhere to truth although everyone else objects to it; we need to collect firsthand information of the church alone and patiently.
Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses on the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg. He faced the Catholic forces alone with tenacity.
Robert Morrison left his country and culture and went to a new country, China. He finished what God entrusted him to do alone with persistence and finally died in that land.
Those famous figures like Taylor Hudson, George Edwin King, and James Gilmour, as well as unknown heroes, chose a lonely road to respond to God's calling.
It is necessary for other people to care for us in this world, but it is better to walk with the Lord alone than to lose the glorious witness as a Christian living in a crowd.
In fact, God is with us every hour and moment. He will bless us twice what we give up for Him. We choose loneliness for Him, but He Himself will be our satisfaction. It's like where the Bible says that God calls Abraham and Moses friends. He also wants to be our friends. He is not a god that keeps aloof, but a Father who bows to comfort, listen to, and help us.
We treat the world with love although it gives us coldness because our friend the Lord Jesus never leaves us and wants to keep us company in loneliness.
- Translated by Karen Luo
