GOD’s Cure For Loneliness

The Christmas season, for so many people, is the loneliest time of the year. And that seems strange because we tend to think of Christmas as the time when everybody is happy. In our minds, this season is supposed to be the time of gatherings, fellowship, church events, social celebrations, good food, & fun. But it is just the opposite for a lot of people. Did you know that there are more suicides, more cases of depression, more drunkenness, & more despair during this time of the year? There’s such a consistent spike in depression around this time that medical professionals have a name for it—(SAD) Seasonal Affective Disorder. Anybody who does counseling, like a pastor, a psychiatrist, or other mental health professional does, or anybody who deals with any of the social agencies knows that for so many people Christmas is a lonely, dark, depressing, & sad time. Why is that? One pastor says that it is because people are told they’re supposed to be happy. Right in the framework of our nation’s constitution is the guarantee of the “pursuit of happiness.” It says that this is one of our “unalienable rights.” In other words, everyone has the right to actually be happy, not just try to be happy. To be happy is the longing in every human heart. But people look within & they realize that they’re not happy, & this season just magnifies this painful reality. In fact, Christmas almost reinforces the despair that they live with the rest of the year. And the irony of the whole thing is that GOD’s Son came down from heaven to earth, took on a body, gave His life as payment for our sins, suffered, bled, died for us, & rose again, & now reigns on high as our Intercessor & faithful High Priest, that we might never be lonely again. GOD sent the cure to man’s loneliness at that first Christmas.