Worth Dying For

What is the meaning of loneliness?

What does it mean to be lonely? To feel acutely the need to be known, perhaps. But what is the meaning of loneliness? Is there a bigger meaning than just the feeling?

Maybe it's the fact that we are never alone. Our choices never affect only our own lives, our lives never affect only our own soul. We are a part of one another--of every other life on this earth--whether we choose it or not.

I wonder what Jesus thought about loneliness. How he understood it; how he felt it. He was always in intimate contact with the Father.

Except for those hours on the cross. There he experienced probably the most acute loneliness anyone ever could. To be rejected by men, deserted by His friends, and then: His Father turned away. But He endured for joy.

And the joy that was set before Him was me. You. Us. Every human being that ever lived under this sun, under the toil of life on this earth.

Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross...

So we could know the ultimate solution to our loneliness, a friend Who never leaves and is able to reach inside and understand, even commune with, the most intimate parts of our souls.

That's a love worth acceptance.
An offer that just can't be turned down.
That's a God worth dying for.

Jesus, please give me your courage.