ALONE

There’s a show we used to watch at home—actually, it’s still on the air—called “Alone”. In it, participants are dropped into the wilderness to survive as long as possible, completely isolated, with only a limited set of survival gear. Aside from occasional medical check-ins, they’re entirely cut off from human contact.

What stuck with us the most was the narrator’s dramatic delivery. He’d ask, “Will they survive…” and then, with a deep, foreboding tone, declare— “ALONE!!!!!”

I bring this up because, at the end of the first chapter of his second letter to Timothy, Paul also talks about being alone. Writing from prison, he says, “As you know, everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me—even Phygelus and Hermogenes.” Paul had been arrested and charged with crimes against the State. And as a result, many of those he once called brothers and sisters in the faith abandoned him. He plainly says in the text that he is suffering.

We could say it again now—with an even darker, more ominous tone: Paul was ALONE.

There’s an old Argentine saying: “Better alone than in bad company.” And while there’s wisdom in that, loneliness is still incredibly hard on us. As human beings, we’re wired for connection. Prolonged isolation can damage not only our mental health, but also our physical well-being. Over time, loneliness can be devastating.

But Paul? Paul doesn’t spiral into despair. He doesn’t tell Timothy to run away from the hardship, or to find an easier life. Instead, he urges him: “Fan into flame the gift of God,” and “Join me in suffering for the gospel.”

From a human perspective, that sounds irrational. Why lean into suffering? Why not escape it? Because Paul wasn’t just dealing with human logic. He was living with an awareness of something beyond this world. (Cue the *Twilight Zone* theme music…)

Paul had a spiritual perspective. And that changed everything.

In verse nine, he says that Jesus *“has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” That is power! That’s the kind of truth that redefines what it means to suffer, to endure, and even to be alone.

Because through Jesus, we’re never truly alone. We’re connected to a source of life and power that death itself cannot overcome.

So keep going. Keep believing. You are never alone. Power on!