The loneliness of the Christian

A.W.Tozer

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.

Life lessons in a single Whatsapp chat

The following is courtesy of a BFF who works with autistic kids. My younger sister also works with autistic kids, and she also shares with me some stories of her kids. To me, it's humbling and such pure joy to know that they have such a passion to help these kids and they love them to bits. They really love them to bits. :-) 

The BFF shared with us about some stories told by a wonderful Canadian therapist, who was training her and her colleagues.

Story 1:  The therapist did some work with streetkids some years back. There was this particular boy, the meanest fellow, who came in for six hours every day. He just sat there and said nothing. She was thinking like "okay, I better say something." So to fill the silence, she talked to him about everything except his life. She told him about her childhood, her dreams, her family and so on. Five years later, she saw him again. She tried to remain calm and walked towards him. He called out to her in a low voice "Blondie". She acted cool and said: "Yes, how are you?" He said: "I'm alive. Those five months every day in your office; those were the only times I felt safe and didn't want to put a gun to my head. Thanks."

Lesson learnt: Unless you try, you never know what kind of an impact you may have. 

Story 2: The therapist once led a group to see the Inuits. They are nomadic with no nationality. The group went to see this woman, who was not at home. At the back of the house, there was a fence and in the middle, there was a stick and tied to the stick on a leash was her son. And there was a dog guarding the child. "Child abuse!" "Call the cops!" Far from that. It's about survival. The woman was a single parent and they lived in the wilderness. That method was the only way she knew to protect the child whenever she was out begging for food.

Lesson learnt: Suspend judgment until you have heard the full story.

Story 3: The therapist shared that once she took Temple Grandin to a steakhouse. Temple loves cows - the animal, not the meat. When she reached the restaurant, she thought "oh dear, Temple's going to throw a tantrum." But Temple regulated herself and ordered a salad.

PS: Temple Grandin has Asperger's Syndrome. She designs livestock handling facilities to minimise stress for animals. She is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. 

Lesson learnt: Autism is a life condition; it is not a life sentence. 

Most importantly, the therapist shared that kids with autism are never going to be typical kids. Even when they go into mainstream education, they will always carry a part of that with them. And she meant what she said in a very accepting and non-judgmental way. 

Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

Along with a few colleagues, I attend a bible study session every Wednesday during lunch-time. Actually, it's more of listening to Pastor David Pawson's teaching on video in a room. The past three weeks were on Ezekiel. Today, this part spoke to me and I think it is still relevant today. Being followers of Christ, we're called to ministry wherever He has placed us. 


Ezekiel 34:1-6

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

When I needed encouragement

Isaiah 58:11 
"The LORD will guide you always; 
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 
and will strengthen your frame. 
You will be like a well-watered garden, 
like a spring whose waters never fail." 

Love that never fails

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

- Lamentations 3:22-23

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The glory around the death

“How often the priest had heard the same confession--Man was so limited: he hadn't even the ingenuity to invent a new vice: the animals knew as much. It was for this world that Christ had died: the more evil you saw and heard about you, the greater the glory lay around the death; it was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or civilization--it needed a God to die for the half-hearted and the corrupt.”
- Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory

Perspective matters

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.