Have you, in your faith walk, ever considered Jesus to be an introvert? Someone who had a habit of being alone? By our modern standards, Jesus might be pegged as an introvert by the account of His life that the Bible gives us. We regularly see Jesus escaping the hustle and bustle of public ministry and being with His disciples to be alone and to be quiet. But why does Jesus do this? What does it reveal about His relationship with God and His approach to life? Why did Jesus, the Son of God, choose to retreat from His disciples and be alone regularly? We see in Mark 1:35 the most prominent example of Jesus being alone: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Many of us in our Western mindset assume, even subconsciously, that our worth and satisfaction are found in our grinding, in our work—more specifically, in our busyness. We seek to fill our lives with things (often good and right things) that take up our time and bring us joy. Yet, Jesus did not do this. Instead, He prioritized time with the Father above all else. If we are to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, we need to realize that He lived a perfect life, and part of our calling as His followers is to live as He did. Why do we then assume that solitude is not an essential practice in following Jesus?
There was a common, corny little piece of artwork that sat on a counter in the house I used to live in: “The quieter you are, the easier it is to hear.” This phrase captures an important truth. We in the West, specifically, live busy lives filled with podcasts, movies, TV, and so many other inputs. With so much external noise hitting us and affecting us, we often forget the significance of silence in our faith walks. But Jesus, the perfect Son of God, understood this deeply.
We see in many Gospel accounts (Mt 14:23, Lk 5:15, Lk 6:12, among others) that Jesus regularly spent time alone praying. He was silent and intentionally silenced His inner dialogue in order to hear as clearly as possible the voice of the Lord. Jesus saw the importance of being with His heavenly Father as much as possible, not just when life became overwhelming, but as a regular, proactive practice.
Often, we see this time of silence and solitude as a counteractive measure or something is done to recenter ourselves when we feel like we have gone astray. To put it plainly, we do it reactively. But Jesus flips the script. He enters into solitude as a proactive measure, not a reactive one. He knows that the most important thing in His life is His relationship with His heavenly Father. Do you see it as the most important relationship in your life? Many people throughout church history have seen this to be an incredibly important matter. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way:
“The day together will be unfruitful without the day alone... The person who comes into fellowship because they are running from themselves is misusing it. They are not seeking community at all, but only distraction, which will allow them to forget their loneliness for a brief time.” (Life Together)
Equally as poignant are the words of Henri Nouwen: “Without solitude, it is virtually impossible to have a spiritual life... We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God.” (Making All Things New). This brings us to an important realization: our Western mindset is killing our spiritual lives. The world tells you to keep going, to work as much as you can, and that your worth is in your earnings and your following. But all of this is wrong. Instead of constantly pushing forward, we need to embrace stillness.
We commonly hear the phrase thrown around, “The devil never sleeps.” Well, let me ask you this—didn't God rest after creating the world? If even God set an example of resting, shouldn't we follow suit? Take a moment to think about who you shape your life around and see that there is only one person in whom you can place your faith: Jesus. If Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life, why do we not look to Him for how we operate in our lives? Maybe, if we want to live as Jesus did—with a spiritually vibrant life and a deep relationship with the Father—then we need to live as He did.
To centre our lives around following in His footsteps means seeing that Jesus, along with being perfect, is the wisest and smartest man to ever walk this good earth. If we want to be like Jesus, let's take time and be with the one our lives are based on—in silence, solitude, and prayer.
Take some time and map out your day. Block it out hour by hour and see where your time is going. Is it pointed toward social media, toward pleasure, or toward being with God? This week, before you plow into your days, take some time in silence and solitude and be with God. At first, you're going to feel maybe scared or anxious. You're going to feel all that is beneath the surface of you. But as you continue in this practice (emphasis on the word practice), you'll begin to see how listening to the Lord and being with Him can alter how you live your life.
