Do you ever feel alone?

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!