Loveless crusaders

It was said of the Russian revolutionary Lenin that he was utterly devoid of human feeling. The man who professed great concern for the liberation of the masses, didn’t really like the individuals who comprised the masses. He loved the idea of improving the lot of the working classes but had no affection for them.

Examples can be multiplied. Some crusaders for change love the idea of revolution, the concept of freedom. They get so tied up with the strategies and the philosophies that they give little thought to the individuals affected by it all. This is why so many revolutions don’t end up benefitting those who were meant to benefit. The ideology is everything. And those promoting the ideology are inevitably corrupted by the power it bestows on them.

Similar things can happen in our churches. Leaders can get a gleam in their eyes having read the latest book or heard the latest talk on how a certain program or idea can revolutionise their churches. The church members become like guinea pigs, those used to try out how successful or how illusory those programs and ideas might be.

By all means embrace a cause, by all means seek necessary change. But don’t simply love the cause; don’t merely love the idea of change; don’t become engrossed with a vision. Love people, real people. Noisy gongs and clanging cymbals can’t truly change the world. Only God-enabled love can do that.

Blessings
David Reay