Alone with Him

"Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.  But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."  (Luke 5:15-16)

If you've read a couple of my most recent posts, you might recognize that I've been pointing my posts more toward worship lately.  The times we're alone with Christ are the times we worship Him best.

We're busy.  It's a fact of life, especially in our culture.  All of our modern time-saving technology hasn't solved our busyness for us.  We're spread as thin as ever.

At the same time, we're called to be Christlike.  Jesus' image is imprinted in our spirits so we will one day be like Him.  In some respects, if we are disciples at any level, we already are like Him.  And we know, when we read His Word, that we are to take our cues from Him.  That means that when the Word tells us He would withdraw to lonely places to pray, we know we are to do the same.  Christlikeness means being like Christ.

What are we to do when our culture, our work, even our friends and families dictate against an attribute of Jesus?  Are we to follow our culture or follow Christ?  On the surface, it's an easy question.  When we try to apply the answer, it isn't.  Getting away to pray is next to impossible, especially getting away often.  The demands of life compete against the demands of Jesus, and we far too often choose the former.  It's easier.

But it won't get us where God wants us to be.  The bulk of discipleship is to be learned in community, but there are some aspects of it that we can only get when we and God are alone together.  Sometimes that can happen in a brief morning devotional, but there are other times when the Spirit wants to teach us a deeper lesson or perhaps simply to have a longer time of fellowship with us.  That can't happen unless, from time to time - as often as possible, in fact - we get alone with God.

If getting away with God in a secluded place is not part of your regular discipleship, start thinking how you might change that.  Plan a time to do it.  If it seems impossible because of work or family demands, ask God to help you see when it could happen and to help arrange the details - who will cover for you, where it might be, and so on.  Remember that He is even more interested in your rendezvous than you are.  In Jesus, He gave us that truth: Worship involves solitude with Him.

"The more a man loves Christ, the more he delights to be with Christ alone.  Lovers love to be alone."  - Thomas Benton Brooks