We may be unmarried, but as Christians we are not solitary. Admittedly, it can sometimes feel like that, but may I gently suggest that this feeling of isolation can be overcome by reaching out to other church members instead of waiting for them to reach out to us? After all, these are the people with whom we will spend eternity, so why not get to know, invest in, and love some of them now? 

Now consider the “ever-growing pool of past grace” in your life. Even in your greatest trials, hasn’t God provided companionship? In my experience, every time a close friend marries or I move or someone leaves, He shortly ushers a new friendship into my life. No, it’s not always the same, nor is it always at the same depth as before – but I’ve never been left completely on my own. I’m teaching myself that whenever I feel alone in a crowd, I should look around for someone else who may be feeling the same way so that I may be used by God to extend grace and kindness, instead of being consumed by my own feelings.

In saying this, I’m not trying to sugarcoat the realities of growing older or of being part of a church full of imperfect people – there will be challenging circumstances in our futures, but we will not walk through them utterly alone. We are part of the Lord’s body now, and both the Head and the other members will be with us for all time.

Death’s Doorway

Death should sober us because it is the payment for sin (Romans 6:23). Yet, as John Piper writes, “it is astonishing how disinterested people are in the reality of dying.” He continues:

Few things are more certain and universal. The possibilities for joy and misery after you die are trillions of times greater than in the few years on this earth before you die. Yet people give almost all their energies to making this life secure, and almost none to the next. The Bible compares this life to a vapor that appears on a cold winter morning and then vanishes (James 4:14). That’s about two seconds. But it describes the time after death as “ages of ages” (Revelation 14:11, literal translation) – not just one or two ages that last a thousand years, but ages of ages – thousands and thousands of ages. It matters infinitely what happens to you after you die.”

The good news is that as a Christian, death is only a doorway into the resurrection life of Christ. We no longer have to be slaves to the fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 says that through death Christ destroyed “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver[ed] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”