Long on Faith, Short on Love

Norman Grubb wrote the following thought-provoking words in his book God Unlimited:

"It was my privilege to start my missionary life with another firebrand for souls, C. T. Studd: I think the small fire was attracted by the big blaze, like to like; and I thank God that 'C.T.' died with the fire of love to Christ and the world burning as fiercely as in his youth. Paul was like that. In his letter to the Philippians, written from prison, 'the furtherance of the gospel' was his occupation. 'Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice and will rejoice': 'Many of the brethren in the Lord . . . are much more bold to speak the word without fear': 'I thank God for your fellowship in the gospel . . . in the defence [sic] and confirmation of the gospel.' May my end be like these men! There is nothing that gives me more joy than to have been allowed these years to participate in a 'Crusade' like this, the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade which C.T. Studd founded, which still burns with a single flame, to bring Christ to those who have never heard of Him, to see the power of God break into hearts, to see Christ formed in them, to help the church grow up in Him, living and witnessing.

"But to faith love must be added. Here I have come short. There are reasons. The gospel has two sides to it--wrath and love. It divides the world into two camps, for as Paul said, it is the savour of death unto death, as well as life unto life. The day of 'the revelation of the righteous judgment of God' will bring eternal life to the one, and 'indignation and wrath' to the other. It is much easier to have an easygoing shew of love to all, if, as many have, we side-step the judgments of God, and throw an indiscriminate blanket of acceptance over all. The Bible does not do that, nor those that preach its message faithfully. A love of that nature cannot be the pure love of God in us, for it is false to His Word. We must find another way of love, if it is to be the same as flowed out from the Saviour, Paul, John, and the others. It must have a foundation of faithfulness at any price, yet it must be clothed in a love which is more prominent than the faithfulness. But I think we often have those two in a reverse proportion: faithfulness is more prominent than love.

"Though eager to witness and speak of Christ, for instance, I am not immediately at home with the 'pagan,' as Jesus so obviously was--the friend of publicans and sinners. I think for too long I have loved 'souls' instead of simply loving people. I have instinctively had the two camps approach, and taken it that everybody is outside the Lord's camp unless I have found out for sure that they are in it. I have not sufficiently just loved a person because he is a person, and sought the human touch with him which could lead on to sharing what Christ has meant to me. I shrink from contacts, when I should welcome them and refuse to judge by external appearances.

"I think that most of us who know the internal condition of churches and missionary societies and other agencies who hold the evangelical faith, will agree that we have much to learn and practice in our ranks about loving one another. We do not face up at any price to the command the Saviour gave absolute priority to in His last prayer and last words to His disciples. Why not? Again I think that some of it is because we have occupied ourselves in safeguarding the truth, expounding the Bible, regarding each other more as consistent or inconsistent believers, rather than as plain beloved brothers and sisters.

"I have fellowship with some movements and conferences where orthodoxy would not be named as their premier characteristic (though they are lovers of the Lord Jesus and His Word, but do not give the prominence to the latter that we would), and I have learned many lessons from them in the expressions of brotherly love. While they have welcomed me to minister the Word according to the light given me, they have ministered streams of the love of Christ for me to take back as my portion! Love must be expressed. 'Beloved, we ought also to love one another . . . let us love one another . . . and this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.'

"I have certainly found in my own ministry as a missionary secretary that I have much more commonly regarded my fellow-workers as agents of the gospel working according to certain missionary principles for which this Crusade 'stands,' rather than as those I love as God loves them. It is really a carry-over of the same outlook towards my brethren as I have had so much towards 'outsiders.' I am beginning to learn that I don't only love Christ in a person, but the person himself and for himself, because that is the love of God to us, and thus to others through us."