The Problem with Isolation

Confession time: I am a science nerd.  I love to learn how things work, to get into the nuts and bolts of stuff and discover what makes things act the way they do.  It's part of the reason I majored in psychology; I want to know why we act the way we do as humans. But I've also had a strong interest in physics, mainly because it can explain so much of what we see on a day to day basis.  How is it that the world is round but nobody falls off into space?  Because of gravity.  What makes the brakes on my car work?  Friction. How do airplanes fly?  Because of the principles of lift (which still blows my mind).  Physics is all around you all the time, working in ways that you don't even see.  Maybe it's just me, but I think that's pretty cool.

Another reason I think the study of physics is not only interesting but also valuable, is because of the parallels we can draw between it and other areas.  If you believe that God created this world, and that He alone is sovereign over it, then it stands to reason that we should pay attention to the physical laws He created and set in place to govern it. Romans 1:19 it says that "Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities".  So I believe that God uses the science of physics to display a little bit of who He is and how He operates.  And I believe that He wants us to pay attention to this fact.

So with all that said, let's talk about thermodynamics.  Yes, thermodynamics.  Specifically, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.  Now if you saw the word "thermodynamics" and are getting ready to bolt, just hold on a for a little while.  This isn't a dissertation about physics (I wouldn't have any idea how to write that) and I'm not expert in this stuff.  I just want to look at some basic concepts that I think we can apply to how we live and how we lead.  

At it's core, thermodynamics is a field of physics that deals with heat and energy.  That's the main idea.  Now, there are a few accepted laws that determine how heat and energy behave.  One of these (the 2nd one, in fact) says something to this effect: disorder will only increase in an isolated system.  In other words, if you take something that is nice and organized and cut it off from everything else, it will only get less organized.  Make sense?  An isolated system is always trying to move towards what is called equilibrium, meaning that everything within the system is equal.  That's the basis of the 2nd law.  

For example, supposes you are to put a hot plate of food into an isolated room of  10 degrees.What happens?  The food loses heat, until the room and the food are the same temperature.  Why?  Because the room wants to be at equilibrium; it doesn't want varying temperatures.  So, when we look deeper, here is what actually happened: the food, when hot, is considered highly organized, or ordered, and is useful to us.  But as it loses heat, it becomes more and more disordered, and eventually becomes useless to us, since we want to eat our food hot.  The heat went from being highly concentrated, highly organized, and highly useful in the food, to being dispersed into the room, making it less concentrated, less organized, and less useful.  So even though it doesn't seem "disordered" in the room in our view, it is in fact considered that way from the perspective of energy.  That's how the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics works: isolated systems are always seeking to go to equilibrium, which in turn means disorder will always increase, and never decrease.  

So there are two factors here to consider.  First, heat is being lost.  We can't control that.  But the second factor, the isolation of the system, we can control.  And that's where the application lies.  If we want the food to be hot again, if we want to restore order to the system, we've got to reheat it, and to reheat it, the food can't be isolated.  If we don't, the heat is lost, and the disorder continues increase.

Therein lies the parallel to the Christian life.  If we isolate ourselves from others, from relationships, from help, from advice, from love, and most importantly, from God, the internal disorder we experience is only going to increase.  It is inevitable.  I'm sure the hot plate of food thinks that he's going to be hot forever, but unless he frequently jumps into the microwave, he's going to cool off.  We fall so easily into this line of thinking: "I can live the Christian life on my own, I don't need anyone else"...."I don't really need to study God's word everyday, I'll get enough at church on Sunday to cover me this week"....."I don't need to pray right now, things are going great"....we've all been here, or are here right now.  But the result (whether we've seen it yet or not) if we will be completely honest with ourselves, is that when we isolate ourselves like this, the light within us begins to fade, even if others don't see it on the outside.  Things fall apart.  That's the way of a fallen world.  So we've got to continually go back to the source of that light so that it will continue to shine in and through us.

God made us to be in relationships, both with Him and with other people.  We function best when these two things are right.  And it starts with God first.  Jesus tells us in John 15 that He is the true vine, and that if we remain in Him, He will remain in us, and we will bear good fruit. The command is for us to remain in Him; we have to maintain the connection if we are to see Him supply the fruit.  In other words, we've got to spend time with Him regularly: in prayer, study, fasting, and worship.  These are things many of us have been told to do since we were kids, but until we actually do them, we won't see much fruit.  

And then there are our relationships with others.  We've got to have them.  Doesn't mean we have to be social butterflies, but we were made to invest in others and be invested in by others.  We were made for fellowship.  Jesus spent much of His time around others, investing in them, teaching them, and enjoying fellowship with them.  If we are to follow His lead, and accomplish His will for us on the earth, we must do the same, partly because this will remove ourselves from isolation, but also because there are people out there who are all alone, and are relying on our obedience and friendship to escape isolation themselves.

One final note: when we talk about this idea of less internal disorder, please don't mistake this for meaning that our problems will decrease.  In fact, they just might increase.  But when we do not allow ourselves go about our lives solo, we experience the peace, the joy, the fulfillment of living within the will of God.  That's what it means to have less disorder: it's to have all of these things in the midst of the external storm.

As a introvert, I assure you that these are words that I need to take to heart daily.  But I would encourage you to do the same, because they are at the heart of what being a follower of Christ is all about.  We have to keep going back to the source, and we have to share that source with others.  Without that, we're just cold meatloaf.