Alone?

Hello again. This morning I stood at the side of a grave in my Naval uniform as an 89 year old ex sailor was buried. I only found out about this man because my Corps Officer messaged me last night and asked if I would be able to attend.

At this mans funeral there were very few people; in fact there was only my Corps Officers leading the service, a handful of carers who had looked after him and myself. No friends, No family.

The same kind of thing happened a few days a go to a man up country. After an internet appeal lots and lots of people turned up for his funeral: it even made the national news. Now I think its great that so many people turned up to his funeral to pay their respects to a veteran, however what did it actually achieve?

When I was at the funeral today I just could not help feeling how sad it was that he had no friends and family there. But worse than that I could not stand the thought that this poor man had no friends and family to visit him when he was alive. However it also made me wonder how many people there were in my local area who are shut in and lonely.

Imagine if all of the people who attended the mans funeral on the news chose to spend that hour visiting someone who was shut in their house and alone. Surely that would have been a more productive way to spend that hour than at the funeral of someone who has already died.

It made me wonder what does the Bible say about loneliness and what does it call us to do?

Well firstly right at the start of the Bible we are told that man is not meant to live alone, we are called to live with others in community. God did not make us to be on our own:

Genesis 2:18 NIV

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

But the Bible also tells us who we should care for:

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV         

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

It is quite clear we should care for those related to us. However there are many of us who live far from their family, or those who have no lonely relatives alive. But that's not an excuse, because the Bible further defines who our relatives are:

1 Timothy 5:1-2 ESV  
       
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

So the Bible tells us that we should treat all people as if they were our family. Surely then, this means we have a responsibility to care for those around us who are alone.

So perhaps this week, everyone who reads this blog could take the time out of their busy lives, even just 30 minutes, to go and visit someone. It could be a family member, a neighbour, someone who used to go to church but now is not well enough to get there, the list of possibilities is endless as there are lonely people everywhere.

30 minutes is not long really, but it could break the boredom and loneliness suffered by someone and might just make some ones week.

The Sailing Salvationist