The Dangerous Myth Of Going It Alone

In August 1992, moose hunters in the Alaskan wilderness made a tragic discovery. Inside an abandoned bus, they found the body of a young man who had been dead for weeks. Beside him lay a book with his final words scrawled in the margins: "HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED."

Christopher McCandless had rejected what he saw as the emptiness of modern society. He burned his money, abandoned his possessions, and ventured into the Alaskan wilderness seeking what he called "ultimate freedom." For 113 days, he lived completely alone, pursuing his dream of total independence. But in his final moments, starving and dying, he discovered a devastating truth: community wasn't optional—it was required for true happiness and meaning.

He discovered this truth too late.

The Individualism We Celebrate

We live in a culture that worships at the altar of self-reliance. We admire the rugged individual, the self-made person, the one who needs nobody. Our heroes are those who "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and "go it alone." We've been taught that asking for help is weakness, that depending on others is failure, and that true strength means radical independence.

But what if this entire framework is fundamentally wrong? What if the very thing we're celebrating is killing us spiritually?

The story in Acts 10 presents a radically different picture of how God works in the world—one that completely dismantles our myths about individualism.

When an Angel Isn't Enough

The story centers on Cornelius, a Roman centurion who was devout, God-fearing, generous to the poor, and committed to prayer. By all external measures, he was religiously exemplary. Yet Cornelius knew something was missing. He wasn't saved, and he knew it.

One afternoon, while praying, an angel appeared to him. Think about that for a moment. An actual angel—a messenger of God with direct access to divine truth—stood before a man desperately seeking salvation.

Here's what's shocking: the angel didn't preach the gospel to Cornelius.

Instead, the angel gave him directions to find Peter, a human being thirty miles away. Acts 11:13-14 makes this explicit: the angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, "who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved."

This should shake us to our core. If God wouldn't even let an angel deliver the gospel message but required a human being to do it, what makes us think we can bypass community and have a purely private relationship with God?

The Pattern God Established

This wasn't an isolated incident. Throughout the book of Acts, we see the same pattern repeated:

The Ethiopian Eunuch was reading Scripture in his chariot, seeking to understand. The Holy Spirit could have whispered the interpretation directly into his mind. Instead, God sent Philip, a human, to explain it.

Saul of Tarsus encountered Jesus Himself on the Damascus road. Jesus could have told Saul exactly what to do next. Instead, Jesus sent him to Damascus to wait for Ananias, a human, to tell him what he needed to know.

Cornelius received an angelic visitation. The angel could have delivered the entire gospel message. Instead, the angel sent him to Peter, a human.

In every case, God had supernatural means available—the Spirit, Jesus Himself, an angel. In every case, God chose to use human mediators instead.

This isn't Plan B. This is Plan A. This is God's design.

The Vision That Required Interpretation

Meanwhile, Peter was having his own supernatural experience. Three times, he saw a vision of a sheet descending from heaven containing all kinds of animals, with a voice commanding him to "kill and eat." Three times Peter refused. Three times the voice responded, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

Yet after this triple vision, Acts 10:17 tells us Peter "wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant."

Individual revelation was insufficient. Peter couldn't figure it out alone. The vision by itself left him confused.

But then Cornelius's delegation arrived—three men sent to find Peter. Suddenly, the pieces fell into place. The Spirit connected the vision to the visitors, and Peter understood: God was breaking down the barriers between Jews and Gentiles. The vision plus the community equaled understanding.

Without community, Peter would have remained confused. Without community, the vision would have been meaningless.

How many of us are sitting on visions, dreams, and revelations from God that we can't fully understand because we're trying to interpret them alone?

The New Thing You Might Miss

Acts 10 represents a watershed moment in church history. God was doing something brand new—extending salvation to the Gentiles and breaking down centuries-old barriers between Jews and non-Jews. This was how the gospel would ultimately spread around the world.

But it required community.

Peter had to invite Cornelius's Gentile messengers into his home—a radical breach of Jewish custom. Then Peter had to travel to Cornelius's house and stay there for days, eating together, talking together, living together. This extended fellowship sealed the bond and formed the new thing God was doing.

Without both Peter and Cornelius embracing community with each other, this pivotal moment in salvation history couldn't have happened.

How many new things might we be missing because we won't step out of our comfort zones and into authentic community?

Even Prayer Is Communal

Here's something remarkable: both Cornelius and Peter were praying when they received their visions. They were thirty miles apart. They didn't know each other. They were praying "alone."

But they weren't alone. Because prayer is never truly private or individual—it's always an act of the Body of Christ, even when we're physically by ourselves.

Jesus taught us to pray "Our Father," not "My Father." Even in our most private devotions, we're addressing God from our position as members of His family. We're surrounded by what Hebrews 12:1 calls "a great cloud of witnesses."

When Cornelius prayed in Caesarea and Peter prayed in Joppa, God was orchestrating both sides of a communal encounter. Their "private" prayers were being woven together into a larger communal purpose.

The Choice Before Us

Christopher McCandless and Peter both received revelations. McCandless discovered that "happiness only real when shared." Peter discovered that God was including all people in His salvation plan.

But there's a crucial difference. McCandless rejected community and discovered the truth too late. Peter embraced community and became part of the greatest movement in human history.

McCandless died alone in a bus, full of regret. Peter lived in community, full of purpose.

Acts 10 teaches us that community is not optional. It's required. We cannot connect to God fully alone. We cannot understand God clearly alone. We will miss what God is doing if we insist on going it alone.

Because God's design is inherently communal.

The question isn't whether we need community. The question is: will we embrace it before it's too late?