Mother Theresa once said, "The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer. It’s the feeling of being uncared for, unwanted—of being deserted and alone." Gospel singer Sheryl Crow says, "I think everybody on the planet feels alone, even when they’re in the greatest relationships or surrounded by family…I don’t want to spend the rest of life alone."

Loneliness is so huge, companies are now marketing to lonely people. A Russian company wants to help customers who drink alone. They have created a talking cap that fits their vodka bottles. Whenever the lonely customer twists the cap, it toasts and giggles. For only $5, you get this drinking companion with a repertoire of 14 phrases, including "let’s pour", and famous Russian drinking songs. The more times you hit the bottle, the more it slurs its speech.

So why is it that 94 percent of us "feel" alone at times? Here are my 10 top causes for feeling lonely.

Sometimes our BEHAVIORS cause loneliness like
1. Not connecting with other people in a meaningful way. We’re busy, mean, impersonal, unfriendly, uninterested and
inflexible. No wonder people disconnect/run from us!

2. Not connecting with God in a meaningful way. I’m so busy or too lazy to move from talking about God to talking to
Him.
3. Sinning against God or other people. When you do life outside God’s moral standards, you’ll distance yourself from
God. Lie to a friend; cheat on your spouse; break a promise; abuse someone; and you’ll distance yourself from others.

Sometimes our BELIEFS make us feel like we’re alone. These statements don’t need any explanation.
4. "No one likes me."
5. "No one listens to me."
6. "No one really wants or needs me."
7. "No one will help me. It’s all up to me."

Sometimes our EXPERIENCES cause us to feel lonely.
8. Being rejected. Rejection can come in the form of a romantic breakup, being demoted or fired, missing out on an
opportunity, being laughed at or called a name. One of the loneliest times I ever felt was when I was in high school
and caused a 3-car pile up on the busiest freeway in Dallas at rush hour. As I stood on the freeway, the stares, words
and gestures of ill will and rejection were breathtaking & painful.

Another experience that can cause loneliness is
9. Being abandoned. Death; divorce; your long time friends relocate; your kids grow up and move on—all of these
cause us to feel lonely.

One last experience that may cause loneliness is
10. Change. Any new experience or change can bring on a sense of loneliness. With every change, you get something
new, but you also let go of or give up something.

There’s no greater emptiness or loneliness a human can experience than to feel—either rightly or wrongly—that no one loves them. And there is no greater feeling in the world than to know that you are absolutely, completely, and unconditionally loved.

Kurt Cobain of the rock band Nirvana, single-handedly started a new trend in the world of rock music—it was called "grunge" music. He sold millions of albums and entertained people all over the world. He had a beautiful wife and daughter, but on April 5, 1994 he committed suicide. A psychiatrist explained how a man so loved by so many could reach such a level of despair. He said, "The adoring fans were a very small part of Kurt Cobain’s life. His misery was caused by the fact that he felt estranged from the people that mattered most."

One of God’s great answers for loneliness is to know that he loves you. "God loves you." I know that phrase has been so overused on t-shirts and billboards that it’s become a cliché. Some of you might think, "Yeah, God loves me. So what? He has to—he loves everybody."

In the next few minutes, I want show you the extent of God’s love for you. He loves each of you with all his heart, and it’s not because he’s stuck with you. He loves you as if you were the only one in the world to love. No matter what you’ve done, or what your life has been like, God loves you. Once you grasp that, you’ll never need to feel lonely and unloved again.

There’s an Old Testament story that shows to what length God will go to keep on loving you. It’s God’s love story for the nation of Israel with implications for you and me. The prophet Hosea was told by God to marry an adulteress woman named Gomer. God knew that Gomer had been and would be unfaithful, and yet He wanted Hosea to marry her anyway. Why--because Hosea’s marriage to Gomer would illustrate God’s love for his unfaithful people. In the same way, His love is amazing even though he knows in advance you and I will be unfaithful to him.

After Gomer gives birth to three kids, she skips town and becomes a prostitute. Hosea stays home and raises the children alone, while Gomer sells her body to strangers. Years pass, and Hosea wants her back so he begins to search for his wife. He finds her for sale on the auction block in a town square. So he purchases his wife and takes her home.

Hosea’s love for his "runaway bride" is the story of God’s love for you. It’s about a relationship God wants with you. Again, once you grasp this love, you’ll never need to spend another day feeling lonely and unloved because your life will be filled with the One who loves you most.

Lets take a closer look at the story and see how deep God’s love is for you and me. 1. God loves you individually. He doesn’t love you as part of a crowd; he loves you as an individual. Remember Hosea’s love for Gomer led him on a personal all-out search for her in spite of what she had done to him. In the same way, God’s relationship with you is not based on what you do for him, but what he does for you.