The Lie of Isolation

I love hiking and backpacking. I pretty much know the ins and outs of all the public parks within an hour’s radius of my home and I love the solitude that is available at these places. It has become a habit of mine to routinely get out into nature. In nature I can see more clearly the creation of the Lord. I see beauty and marvel at how beautiful it is and praise the Lord for His creation and praise Him for the art of it all. Being out in creation is a wonderful respite from stress and frustration for me but I have begun to discover a disturbing trend in my behavior: when I have relational conflict or are stricken by the pervasiveness of my own sin, I long to retreat into the wilderness. When I am disturbed by the ungodly activities in my community of across the world, my initial inclination is to flee into the woods. This revelation has opened my eyes to the great lie of isolation. The lie of isolation is that by removing the external influences you can better yourself.

We falsely believe that if we remove ourselves from temptation we can eliminate sin. This motivation is what led the Desert Fathers to flee the extravagances of the Roman Empire and to seek solace in the wilderness. Their (justified) desire for purity led them to an incredibly drastic retreat into asceticism. Sin, though, is a product of our yet unconvinced flesh, which has yet to comprehend in our freedom in Christ. Sin, ultimately resides in our heart not in our surroundings. Isolation seeks to remedy the sickness yet only serves to mask the disease.

Many of us find ourselves frustrated and often hurt by the actions of others. We linger on the pain of broken relationships or harsh and critical words. We see the sinfulness of our unbelieving neighbors and we are disturbed. Our knee-jerk reaction in these situations is to pull back because it hurts to remain. Isolation tells us that if we remove ourselves from engagement with others we can mitigate the risk, the temptation, or pain associated with human relationships.

Solitude is a beautiful, wonderful tool, modeled by Jesus, that serves to refresh, refocus, and clarify but it was never intended to be an end unto itself. To do so is to abandon Jesus’ call not only to a community of believers but also His command to go out and make disciples of all nations, which requires engagement with the individuals and communities that surround us. To abuse this discipline is to act out of fear and selfishness--- both faulty and unhealthy motivations.

We were not made for isolation either individually or corporately. When we isolate our communities from the greater world we fail to fulfill our purpose and reflect poorly our Savior who, though often seeking the solitude of the wilderness, was committed to entering into the lives and communities of sinners (us). What cause do we have to lament the grievances done to us when our Savior, through His engagement with us, suffered more than any man can conceive?

When we turn to isolation to escape our problems and pain, believing the lie that it will recuse us of further discomfort, we fail to fulfill the purposes we were created for. We were not created for isolation. We were created for fellowship. We must, however difficult, uncomfortable, painful, or hopeless it might seem, believe that the Spirit of the Lord is strong enough to heal the wounds; strong enough to influence change in others; strong enough to fulfill the plans of God. We must view our fellow believers truly: as brothers and sisters. We must listen and engage them as if they were family, for that is what they are. We must seek their good above our own for such is the example of Christ. We can trust that: “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”