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Love is Not Enough

Monday August 14 2017

Life and Work's much-loved columnist, the Very Rev Dr James Simpson, has chosen some of his favourite pieces from over 10 years of meditations.

His final selection, from May 2011, looks at the importance of Christian discernment.

A critic rightly said of William Morris’ poem Love is Enough, “It is not”.

Something more is needed, what Paul calls ‘the gift of true discernment’. We need the insight to determine priorities and grasp essentials, the ability to discern what is ultimately for the good of individuals and communities and what would ultimately be harmful. Jesus’ instruction to his followers ‘to love one another as I have loved you’ raises the question “How do we apply the love principle in the rough and tumble of life?”

How for example do you love the beggar who comes to your door and asks for money? That is not a simple question, not if you think of love as Jesus did in terms of seeking the highest good of the other person. In some cases to give money would be the worst possible thing to do.

How does the judge love the criminal? How does he or she express concern for the person being tried, and also at the same time show a real concern for the individual or society that has been wronged? How do you show love to children whose lives are being warped by unreasonable parents? How does a married daughter love a demanding mother, without being unfair to her husband and family? There is no dictionary of conduct we can thumb through to find precise answers spelled out.

Just because the technical skill of the human race is immense, the possibilities for good and evil are also immense. Addressing a committee of MPs, Dr Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the sheep, said concerning the possibility of cloning human beings, to which he personally is opposed: “If we really wanted to do it, it could be done.”

In an age of incredible technology, biological engineering and high-tech medicine, the burning question for many scientists and physicians is not so much ‘can we do so-and-so?’ but ‘should we do so-and-so?’. They need the gift of discernment.

Someone once said that to every complex problem there is a simple solution. Then he added: ‘and that simple solution is usually wrong’. Middle ways are never easy. Nor are they always fashionable with people who want to establish one pole as absolute truth, who think in terms of black or white. Middle ways demand maturity. They demand discernment. Alongside scientific research and the enlargement of the frontiers of knowledge, there is a burning need for the pursuit of what the Bible calls wisdom, something larger and deeper than mere knowledge.

When Henry Sandon of the Antiques Roadshow visited Dornoch with a BBC crew to present a Songs of Praise service from the Cathedral, I had to resist the temptation to take him to the antique shop opposite the Cathedral, and get him to point out the real bargains! What I do remember is asking how he acquired his ability to recognise and value rare pieces of porcelain. He told me he had learned it from others who loved beautiful porcelain.

Is it not similar with the ability to discern wisely? Many of the wisest parents, teachers, politicians and scientists I know acquired this ability from being a member of a home, church or community where the great truths and principles Jesus stood for were highly valued, values and principles which are as relevant in our computer age as in agricultural Palestine.

“Whoever heareth these words of mine and acts upon them,” said Jesus, “I will liken him unto a wise man.” Unless we meditate regularly on the life and teaching of Jesus, there is the real danger of accepting our own preferences – what we feel inclined to do – and calling them by the grand words ‘Christian love’.

Paul knew that if love is not to be misdirected, it must go hand-in-hand with the best knowledge available and with an understanding of ourselves and our place in God’s purposes. To the Philippians he wrote: “Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus… This is my prayer that your love may grow ever richer in knowledge and insight of every kind, and that you may thus have the gift of true discernment.”

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James A Simpson's books, written to raise funds for cystic fibrosis research, are published by Steve Savage and available in shops and online.