Don’t let the devil consume your mind with loving people in theory, and don’t let him drive you to despise the people that you actually know. Let’s be a people that love one another, not in word only, but in deed and truth (1 John 3:18).

I’ve heard it said before that the reason you love the people of some far off lost nation is because you haven’t met them yet. You love those lost Chinese people. You would give your life for the Yemeni. You love the North Koreans. It’s easy to love those people. You know why? Because they’ve never spoken to you. They’ve never said a cross word to you. You’ve never been sitting across a table and seen them smack their food, or tell a corny joke, or smelled their breath. You love them because you don’t know them. You know them as “the Chinese”, a Platonic form of a people group, and not people in themselves. You don’t know Bob (or whatever the Chinese equivalent is). And I’m not downplaying our need to love all people, but I think there is a more impressive love.

Loving “Those People Over There”

It’s one thing to theoretically love a people that you will never actually meet, but it’s much more impressive to really love people who sit two pews over. “Those lost people over there” or “those Christians in that country” are easy to love because theoretical people don’t sin against you; you don’t see their blemishes or know their struggles. You’ll never stay up late to hear them cry after a miscarriage. You won’t ever have a disagreement about doctrine and then worship together two days later. The theoretical love that you have for that person lives in your mind and you can convince yourself that you would really love them if you only had the chance. But would you?

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