isolation destroys

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:1

We were made for community. Along with fools, isolationists are derided by Solomon as lacking wisdom. By isolating they are idolatrous with themselves, shutting themselves off from sources of wisdom. By exalting their own intellect, their own emotions, their own opinions without the healthy “peer review” of meaningful relationships, isolationists live a self-centered alternate reality, often to the point of delusion. This is exactly the message of the book of Jonah. You isolate too much and you will even run from God!

What’s more, if we isolate into the kind of foolishness described here, we lose all sound judgment. Lack of community warps a soul. It creates skewed perspectives. It is ultimately destructive to our souls.

God created community. Fist with marriage: it was not good for the man to be alone. Then came family. Then came groups, cities, assemblies, and governments. Eventually God made Israel His covenant community to worship Him. With Jesus came redemption not just of individuals, but of people groups and a new community of Christ-followers that Jesus named “church”.

It honors God when I live in community well. It is sinful to deliberately disengage from the community God has placed around me of friends, family, and faith community. It is wrong to live in the echo chamber of my own thoughts, even if I think virtual community is a substitute. It is not. I am made communal. I thrive in a network of friends and fellow believers. I need my neighbors. I need my family. I need the wisdom of God as it is taught in the Church.