The biggest personal problem of our day is loneliness. Paul Tournier, a Swiss psychiatrist, called it the most devastating malady of our age. It is, according to some experts, reaching epidemic proportions.
Loneliness and aloneness are not the same. Loneliness is not the absence of people. It is the absence of deep and meaningful relationships. It is the feeling of being unloved, unwanted, and unneeded. It is loneliness that fills the bars of our land.
Loneliness is not limited to any one age or class of people. The sick are usually lonely. The divorced are often lonely. The aged are almost always lonely. Oftentimes even young people are lonely. The greatest cure for loneliness is Christian fellowship and friendship. Christ gives us the ability to give and receive love in a deep and meaningful way. This is the only ultimate cure for loneliness.
If loneliness is a problem to you, begin with God. Believe in him, trust him, and follow him. Find a church home. Get in a church that is warm, friendly, and spiritual. Find someone else who is lonelier still and help them. Do these things and loneliness will almost certainly flee.