Will isolation make me strange?

A hermit lived in the farming community where my parents made their home. He shut himself into his little house, seldom went anywhere, and after years of solitude, his thinking became warped. He was paranoid and began taking pot shots with a shotgun at the mail deliverer. The end of the story is not pretty.

The nature of being in the kingdom of God sometimes makes me feel like a hermit. In the first place, I am shut into it just like Noah and his family were shut into the ark.

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in. (Genesis 7:16)

Noah could not get out. Of course he could see judgment by water on the world around him so he didn’t want to get out. However, I wonder if he felt isolated. His wife and children were with him, but no one else. Those who mocked him while he built his boat were now perishing. The same waters that floated Noah also destroyed those whose “flesh had corrupted their way on earth.”

Christians also are lifted up and no longer “of this world.” We still live here, but are given a new attitude toward our lives and this place. For one thing, time is short and eternity is forever. God put in us a desire to be involved in those things that last and commands us to keep that priority.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

Obedience to this command can make this world a lonely place at times. If it were not for the fellowship of like-minded believers, our lives here would be difficult. It is as Jesus said . . . 

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19)

In our country, that hatred is not usually expressed in violence, but those who live godly lives do face persecution. Here it seems no one is allowed to malign any other group, ideology or lifestyle, but it is okay to mock and belittle Christians.

Last week I was thinking about these things and began wondering if the spiritual realm in which I live is actual. My neighbors don’t seem to see it. Sometimes other Christians are so caught up in worldly things that they miss it too. Does that mean that the kingdom of God is only a figment of my imagination?

If that were so, then faith is foolhardy. I’d be like that hermit — but with a big difference. Instead of loving my neighbors, I’d be taking pot shots at them. My thinking would become increasingly warped and turned inward, and my life would have no interest in other people.

Instead, life in the kingdom of God is not like that. It is a protected life; I am kept from His wrath, which the Bible says will eventually be expressed in fire. I am also protected from the temporal state of everything else. The world is passing away, but God promises me that I will live forever.

While here and in this bubble called the kingdom of God, I still live in the world, but He protects me from another important factor — the power of Satan. 

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:14–16)

Instead of creating hermits, the kingdom of God is producing power in me. I no longer am in bondage to sin. Christ has set me free from its dominion. In silly pride, my flesh sometimes gives in, but He is quick to forgive and cleanse, setting me back on track. My walk inside this spiritual realm is not the same as it was when I lived in the world.

Isolation could make my mind weird. Jesus tells me that will not happen. He keeps me busy with people (who will last forever) and tells me how to keep sane, even if I am set apart and shut in . . . 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

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God, You know that sometimes my mind takes trips into doubt and speculation. You also give me an awareness of how the world thinks. Yet even when I see that or worse, am tempted by it, You continually protect me from being charmed by this world and its ways. I can rely on You to protect me from Satan’s lies also, and to use Your precious Word to guard my heart from that which has no value. Thank You for continually being at work to renew my mind and turn me always toward Your noble and precious thoughts.