ALONE IN THE WORLD - A Letter

[Terry Scerine]

The truth is that we are each alone in the world.

I am all alone in this world, just me and my Lord Jesus. He is the only one who will, and can, go the whole distance with any one of us.

Even the most loving parent or spouse can only go so deep and so far with us. Depression taught me that. In the time of my most desperate need, even my own loving mother had to draw the line of her own sacrifice and involvement. That's when I had the wide-eyed realization that when all the chips are down, when I'm the most desperate and need someone to carry me the most, I'm on my own. And that's when I turned to God and surrendered my life to Him, and then Jesus rescued me.

Besides, we all die alone anyway. After we breathe our last breath, we leave even those weeping at our bedside behind. Only the full devotion of our perfectly capable and loving Lord who knows us perfectly, knows the full depth of our inner being and still accepts us for who we are, can go the whole distance with us. That's the beauty of our awesome Lord. Even in our own death He is fully with us, right by our side or even carrying us, sticking with us all the way through the transition of our death and beyond.

Who else can understand us as well as He can? Who else can know us as fully as He does, right down to everything we've ever done and ever will do, right down to our every thought and desire of our heart?

The rest of us, even fellow believers who share our same depth in Him, cannot be any more than "fair weather" companions. We all reach a limit of sacrifice for another, a line we cannot cross because of our self-preservation; a bail-out point where a switch flips in your head and you decide, "Oops, he's on his own from here. I have my own (fill in the blank) to think about."

You might be willing to die for me, and I wouldn't doubt it, but would you be willing to give me everything you'll ever have materially and emotionally and remain living? Would you be willing to take all my burdens on yourself and bankrupt your own existence and be left alone with nothing? Jesus did it and still does, but who else would?

Jesus was accompanied by His best friends, His worshipping disciples only so far, and actually even the most loyal of them bailed out pretty early in the game. As soon as their own personal safety and well-being were threatened they not only abandoned Him, they even denied knowing Him as if to say, "You're not worth THAT much to me. I came this far, but I have to draw a line at the threat of my own torture and crucifiction."

Not one of them even had the nerve to walk with him as he carried his cross, much less help him with it, as far as I know. (A perfect stranger had to do it, and even then only at the order of a centurion.) They were only human too, after all. They only showed up again once He was hanging alone on the cross and they could observe it in safety from a distance.

I know there are those who love me, who would go the distance with me as far as they can. But I also know there's a human end to anyone's devotion to me (And I don't want to know how far that is).

This is all easy for me to say, though, because I still do have the devotion of loved ones, like you, out there. I actually have no idea what real "alone-ness" feels like, like that of Jesus or the prophets of old. There's always someone I could call who would care to at least some extent. I could even walk into any church any time and find some degree of love and devotion and help from strangers. But again, only to a certain human extent.

The beauty of it is that there are fellow believers out there who are truly devoted to the Lord, and out of their devotion to Him would go a full, healthy, and proper distance of their limited human capability with you, like I would. I would die for any of you, but I don't think I could live my life for you (unless you were my own wife or children, maybe). But I can't live inside you, and I can't save you.

We never have to feel alone. We have the Body of Christ to lean on and tap into whenever we need it. But we must all walk alone past that limit of the human capability of others, past their own limits of self-preservation. We only have to walk fully alone if we want to or if God leads us to.

Sometimes He might even want us all to Himself, to walk alone in the dry desert, but then we're still not alone. We're always fully accompanied by our limitless Lord who has sanctified us to Himself for His good pleasure as well as ours.

Personally, I never feel alone. Maybe I'm lonesome sometimes for the devoted companionship and loving touch of a wife, maybe I'm lonesome sometimes for a close friend to share great times with, but I'll never ever be alone again, even when I'm alone.

I have the full-time mighty, loving and caring companionship of the King of Kings Jesus, and we're already sharing the abundant Joy of eternal life together in His Kingdom!

[Carla]

Dear Terry,

This is so right on... I am slowly making my way through 'Pilgrims Progress' Your letter here has just hit home, and is refreshing and encouraging truth to read!

God bless you dear brother, Carla

[maggie hancox]

Awesome Terry, yes we all feel that, only yesterday I encountered such a painful realization again..I had to remind myself to LOOK UP....even when we have a husband or a wife or a dear freind, we must realize that we can not expect or rely on their support for our emotions, or our faith in our Father for that matter.
They can not guard our hearts or our souls, nor always provide us with salve for our pain.
For this we must look higher.
This particular issue is something I know my Father has been working on me with.
I do tend to look to people and then fall so very far, when they seem to let me down (as it is really the fact they, like myself, are born of Adam that lets me down.).
This has happend with a pastor once so long ago, just think if I had of looked higher how much further along in my walk to knowing my Father I could have been.

As a woman, to me it is also natural to look higher to a man, but there in I must tred so carefully as to remember that in all things I have not looked quite to the top!

I was once told when you have a problem, take advice, but never take a 'no' or a 'yes' from anyone not qualified to give it..go HIGHER.

Great advice.

It is a lonely road this one we travel, and even in a world full of people, with family and freinds around, it is still a lonely place.

I remember being alone in my car not long having given my life to my Father, and I began to talk to him, I had almost arrived home when I realized that though I had been traveling alone, that I too was not alone at all! And for once in my life I was never going to be alone again, so long as I could just open my mouth he would be there. As it was said, draw near to him and he will draw near to you....forget the old addage 'only a phone call away' you have a direct line right there as easy as opening a door.

Bless you Terry you have been a wonderful freind and comfort to me and I have most appreicated your writings.

[Charles Burwell]

Terry

Next to salvation itself there is no more precious gift from the Lord than the knowledge that He will never leave us or let us down. He has put me into several situations where I had , very literally, no one to lean on. These would have been the worst times of my life if not for the fact that through them I learned that He will always be with me and I need depend on no one else.

As you said , people will love you and help you as much as they can but they just don't possess the ability to never leave or forsake us as our precious Lord does.

This has been a real boost ( for lack of a better word) to my ability to open my self to trust people. I am more willing to take people at their word and trust them because I know that even if they let me down or even intentionally decive me , my basis for my confidence was never in them to begin with. Since I was ( and probably to some extent still am ) someone who doesn't trust people easily this has given me more freedom to give them the benefit of any doubt I may have about their intentions.

God bless you for another wonderful reminder

[deedee310]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful insightful post. I can only speak for myself when I say I truly needed to hear this.

[Theresa]

By you sharing this Terry, it make me want to shout about the awesomenous of God and His matcheless name. Thank you precious saint and may God continue to bless you!

[James Lindquist]

Very Good Terry. It reminds me of that picture, "Footprints in the Sand," when He carries us. I am working on a piece now, actually a four part series of the four levels of love with our Lord. At least, my four. God probably has a million levels of love, but I am just a man.

I know what it's like to be with Him and I know what it's like to be without Him. I like it with Him a whole lot better. Have a good one bro. . .JL