The Sin of Isolation

​This is the blog that I don’t want to write and you don’t want to read.  Can we just be honest about that right up front?  Like bad medicine you need to take but only want to spit out.  The sweetness can only be tasted when the healing comes… but, oh how sweet the healing is when it does come.  So, take a deep breath with me, ladies, it’s time to swallow.

Introverted, anti-social, hermit, reserved, don’t like crowds, being shy, a wallflower, a loner.  I have used each of these terms to describe myself many times in my life (heck, the past week).  They are a handy excuse for my behavior and serve as a warning for people to stay back.  Like saying, “Please carefully remove yourself from my precious personal bubble.  Um, one more step back…aaand one more.  There, now we are far enough apart that we can be pleasant friends but not have to get caught up in any messy personal issues.”

I enjoy using the above terms if I must be honest (and I must)…and I know I’m not the only one.  If this blog caught your attention you are probably in a similar boat as me (not the same boat hence the issue).  You may be offended already that I have called it a…SIN.  I don’t like it either, but I’m not the boss and I don’t make the rules. 

A verse that came up in a women’s Bible study recently, and that just keeps slapping me in the face, is Proverbs18:1 which reads, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgement.”  Did you feel that smack like I did?  Hear that clear element of selfishness in “seeks his own desire” and foolishness in “breaks out against all sound judgement”?

How can isolation be selfish?  When we distance ourselves from others we are not able to connect and display Christ to them.  We are not there to speak God’s words of encouragement to them.   Paul in his ministries lived with the people and worked with the people in order to win them to salvation, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22.  This is not possible if we are hidden away.

How is isolation foolish?  Our purpose for breathing is to glorify God through sharing the gospel and proclaiming his name to the nations. Hard to be effective in this calling when our noses are in a novel or we are “just not in the mood to deal with people”. Taking ourselves out of interaction with others is like taking ourselves out of the race and still expecting to win, pure foolishness.

So, ladies, let’s be big girls and call sin “sin” when the Bible calls it out.  No sense softening evil to make it comfy.  We don’t want it comfy.  We want sin as uncomfortable in our lives as putting on a wet swim suit covered in sand or like a mouth full of gravel (Proverbs 20:17).

Is taking time to be alone always sin?  My goodness no.  There are times of needed refueling and resting.  Time to get yourself away from the world to spend time alone with God (epic oxymoron when you think about it).  Jesus himself often moved away from the crowds that followed him, he also often got up early in the morning and found a solitary place to pray.  Time alone can be good, acceptable and beneficial when done for the proper reasons.

The motive is the crucial difference, the essence of whether the removing of yourself from others is a sin or a time of godly refueling.  Think carefully, what is causing you to want to shut the world out?  Is it fear of rejection, judgement, being socially inept, not wanting others to see the “real you”?  Is it laziness?  As painful as these can be, they are inadequate excuses.  We cannot hide behind our feelings.  Spend time studying who you are in Christ for your strength, looking at him not yourself.  “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7. 

So consider this a reminder to check your heart - is how you are living fulfilling what God has called you to?  If you are claimed by God, you contain a treasure beyond measure - step out and share it.  Multiply your joy in fellowship.  No more keeping others at arm’s length for fear of discomfort.  Decide not to be okay with selfish and foolish isolation, be disgusted by it; shed the suit and spit out the gravel.  Be bold and connect with others, dare to get messy and love people with the crazy love of Christ and… allow them to love you back. 
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Praise God and wage spiritual war with the incredible act of engaging with others.