Loving the Whole World -- Do I Have To?

“God’s people are never instructed or urged to love the world or large segments of populations within it.  God can and does love the world, but human beings are so constituted that they cannot.  When we try, our expressions of love for the multitudes inevitably degenerate into pious posturing.  We are called upon to love one another, spouse, neighbor, stranger, and enemy – whatever the cultural or cross-cultural context.  This is challenge aplenty for even the most pious among us.”   -- Jonathan Bonk*

 

What a relief!

As a missionary I’ve always struggled with the motivation of “love for the lost.”  I’ve found it hard to feel a ground-swell of emotion for the masses.

For me, the greater motivation has always been love for God and seeking his glory.  God is Who He is – the Ultimate Reality, the Creator, my Redeemer and Savior.  He deserves honor and glory.  Satan gets so much credit in this world – especially here in Africa – but God is the One who deserves all the credit, all the praise and glory.  It’s just not right for people to bow before idols – it doesn’t fit with Reality.

Can you see that it’s easy for me to get worked up about this?

But love for the nameless, faceless masses?  That’s hard to come by.   Pity, yes.  Compassion, yes.  But love – that’s hard.

What Bonk is pointing out here is that this kind of universal love is God’s department, not mine.  My calling is to love – to really love, to give myself for – those I can name, the faces I encounter everyday.

As Bonk points out, “This is challenge aplenty for even the most pious among us.”

 

*In Global Missiology in the 21^st Century:  The Iguassu Dialogue, ed. William D. Taylor (Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2000), p. 53.