Alone.
Alone. This word by itself is enough to raise an image in your mind or even awake some emotions you may be feeling right now. Often, the times when we feel alone in our Christian walk is when we are the most vulnerable and right where the devil wants us to be. Now why is this so? There is a multitude of reasons why you may feel alone right now, possibly sin has crept it’s way into your life, maybe you are going through a tough time in your personal life and due to the pain, you are isolating yourself; maybe even depression is contributing to this. Regardless of the reason, feeling alone is not a good feeling. Now some of you may be thinking, well I like being alone. Being alone and feeling alone are two completely different things. Feeling alone is when a Christian is caught in a place that they feel as if they have no support. The topic I want to discuss today is feeling alone because of sin.
Sin is something that is unescapable. Regardless of your age, race or level of spirituality sin finds a way to creep in, it does not discriminate. Now when we sin we often feel as if we cannot tell anyone about this or else they will think we are the worst Christians in the world, this is exactly what the devil wants us to think. In Bonhoeffers book Life Together, he illustrates this topic extensively. The bible throughout talks about how we are supposed to be open with others, specifically in James where it says we are to confess our sins one to another. By openly confessing our sins we are both breaking the bondage of sin itself but also breaking our inner pride. Pride is the root of all sin, but it is also the reason why we don’t talk about sin to others. We feel as if maybe we won’t be accepted if we confess this sin (which isn’t the case), and this feeling causes us to isolate ourselves. When we isolate ourselves, this is exactly what the enemy wants and the exact opposite of what we need. If you find yourself in sin, confess it, go to someone you trust and see how much freedom you feel after. Not only that, all of the sins we commit throughout our lives are already paid for! On the cross Jesus made the atonement necessary for our sins to be forgiven, and death to be defeated. God is a forgiving and gracious God, He is quick to forgive, so give Him that chance today!
