Just because he has no tears does not mean he isn’t crying.
Just because she has never called you does not mean she doesn’t want to talk.
Even if you never remember the lonely, they still exist.
If you close your eyes and pretend they aren’t there, they probably won’t bug you, but they will still be there.
In this fifth installment of my intimate portrait of Jesus, I can talk about something I am very familiar with. Jesus is a friend to the lonely. Are you?
I won’t use bible verses to write this post, and for some, that might mean the things I have to say here won’t be “biblical”. Good! Ignoring the lonely isn’t biblical either, and when is the last time anyone was so concerned about our actions not being “biblical”?
Jesus is here, with me, always. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t shake Him loose, and believe me, there are times I have tried. Now, do you want to know how hard it is for me to shake someone who ignores the lonely loose? It’s easy.
If I were to ask a room full of people (Jesus amongst them) whether anyone in there knew at least five lonely people, maybe one or two hands would raise, and Jesus’ hand would be one of them. If I were to then ask if anyone in that room actually gave a damn about the lonely, every hand in the room would shoot up instantly.
Next question; “When is the last time anyone here went out of their way to visit the lonely?” Only one hand would raise, and His answer would be, “Well, there was that one time two thousand years ago or so…when I died for the lonely. Since then, I haven’t really had to go out of my way, as I am always with them anyway.”
As I look around the room, I see faces I recognize, people who might know me, and they are clueless that I get lonely. Want to know why? None of them ever bothers to ask. And yet as we all know, this is a room where every hand will raise when asked if they care about the lonely.
I have a best friend named Brett, and he truly cares. His wife does too. Beyond that, if I do not make it known I get lonely sometimes, no one cares enough to ask.
This isn’t a pity party, for I am not lonely tonight, which is the best night to write this post. No, this is simply the truth.
Jesus is here, when I am filled, and when I am not. He is here when I am surrounded by people, and He is here when I am not. No man or woman can be with the lonely all of the time, but isn’t it surprising how “all the time” turns into “none of the time”?
It’s time for me to learn about the new people in our church, and in my neighborhood, and in my city. I am going to find out who is lonely. I used to know, as our church was not all that big, but one by one, each lonely person I knew has seen their lives become filled again with people and hopes. Of the group of ten or so that I knew, I am all that remains of the lonely.
So it is time for me to go out again into the places where the lonely people reside, find them, and be a physical Jesus to them until someone can be there for them more often, or all of the time. It is time for me to do it, because no one else will.
Jesus is a friend to the lonely. He doesn’t write theological treatises, He doesn’t memorize bible verses, and He doesn’t tithe. What kind of a Christian is that?
The kind of Christian the lonely need.
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