Tuesday, December 1, 2009

THE LONELINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN

by~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."

2 comments:

  1. Good stuff! I can relate to the sense of loneliness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Tozer. I have experienced this a lot over the years. People have grown to know that I will probably not go to the places or do the things they would. Therefore, I'm not asked to accompany them...which can be painful.

    Yet, I know their intentions are good because they don't want me to feel like I have to say no. I don't say anything derogatory to them about their choices, I just try to remember that I have an obligation to be faithful to my God and the witness He'd have me present.

    So, "I walk alone" is quite the compelling theme.

    But imagine being crucified for the people you love. Alone.

    ReplyDelete