by Henry Shieh

The sweetness and love of fellowship is something that I am thankful for the most, whenever I’m with believers. People are constantly encouraged, comforted, loved during times of fellowship. But should fellowship be our top priority? It is biblical, but is it the only thing that sustains our faith? Sometimes I act like fellowship is the necessary and sufficient feature of my faith and if I don’t have it, I’ll be lonely and nothing else will be important. I tend to think that I’m alone, excluded, out of the loop, unloved etc…

God has blessed me with the opportunity to live with believers and non-believers on campus, but none of whom are part of Lighthouse. Many Lighthouse collegians live on another part of campus which is “further”(I use quotes because it’s actually not that far) and I don’t get the opportunity to spend as much time as I would like with them. Sometimes I play the victim, have sinful/judgmental thoughts, have a “woe is me” mentality, and say “my life is so difficult because I’m so far away from others.” I’m constantly complaining to God that I am alone.

There’s a giant problem with that complaint; who am I really putting my trust in? Am I truly with my whole heart putting my trust in God? Or man?

Don’t get me wrong, having fellowship with one another is important, but relying on fellowship is not the same as trusting on God. One could say, “Of course I’m trusting in God, but I need fellowship!”

Oh really?

We’re called to put our faith in God and not man. I’m not saying you cannot trust in man, I am saying that you must trust God with everything you’ve got because He is the greatest source of comfort, and He can bear all of the burdens. God is the rock that we must build our house on. He can withstand everything. If we trust man, we are like the foolish man who builds his house upon the sand. Just one storm and the foundation is a goner.

This sense of loneliness is just the result of pitying one’s self and is not true! Feeling lonely and that no one loves you is just a result of a selfish heart. Why must everyone in the whole world flock to my needs? I hope this encourages those who feel lonely because the fact of the matter is, you aren’t. God is sufficient and He is all that you need. What you need is different from what you want.

Whenever you feel that you’re alone and that there is no love in your life, I challenge you to ask yourself this: who are you putting your trust in? Is it in God who is faithful and unchanging, and who  has/is/always will love you?

Or is it man?