Today’s Scripture Reading

¹² I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.2TIM.4:12

Today’s Devotional Reading

Loneliness: Everybody’s Acquaintance, Nobody’s Friend

Do your best to come to me quickly . . . Do your best to get here before winter. (2 Timothy 4:9,21)

Have you ever been lonely? You can have a million close friends and still be lonely. You can be surrounded by people and yet feel miles apart.

Loneliness knows no barriers. It affects the wealthy and the poor, the popular and the unpopular, the beautiful and the ordinary-looking, married and singles, the introverted and the extroverted, the famous and the not so famous. Everybody experiences loneliness at one time or another.

If you are wearing a face of loneliness, make an effort to spend quality time with a few people. The task at hand is not in meeting more people; it is in deepening the relationships we presently have.

Many suffer from loneliness because they have lost the sense of community. Numerous sociologists have observed that most Americans do not have a feeling of meaningful belonging or involvement in any sort of community. We often hear this expressed in the need for “home.” People will say “I want to go home; I miss home.” But what is home? Home is not a place but people. It is those people who care for you, love you, and accept you. These people may be related to you, but then again, they may not.

By the way, one would think the church fits that bill. But unfortunately church can be one of the loneliest places on earth. Churches can be filled with friendly strangers— people who are nice and cordial and welcoming— but there is nothing deep. It is all superficial. When you are lonely, you need people who will go deep with you. Find those people.

Prayer

God, help me to know who my home is when . . .

Today’s devotional reading is pulled from: NIV Once a Day Devotional for Men