Evangelism and Emotion

So I wrote before how I think love in action must also involve emotion; same with joy, that it involves some measure of happiness. Here’s the flip side to that.

I often hear, in regards to evangelism and missions, prayers like “let our hearts break for the lost”. This sentiment is undoubtedly good. My question is, is it Biblical? I kind of shared this in small group leaders training. When I most recently read through Acts, one thing that kind of struck me is that Paul never expresses this sentiment, a “heart” for the lost. What he does express, repeatedly, is a conviction of being sent by God to the Gentiles. But it’s very matter of fact; God sent him so he went. On the surface, you would not be able to tell if he even cared about them much at all. It’s just, God sent him, so he went. Virtually no emotion expressed at all.

His epistles bear out that he deeply loved his spiritual children and other Christians. But I’m not sure he ever expresses the kind of compassion wrapped up in the sentiment of our hearts breaking for the lost. I may be wrong, but just reading through it, that’s the sense I get.

HS said how the hearts breaking thing could mean more having a strong conviction than strong compassion. I’m down with that. I just think sometimes what we pray for (and wait for) is a compassion for the lost as a prerequisite or a motivation to evangelize. My current working theory, and it’s only a theory, is that the model of Scripture is that we should be driven less by compassion and more by conviction. We need to know that we’ve been sent more than we need to feel compassion. Not that the latter is bad. It just shouldn’t be the primary motivation, nor am I sure it’s even necessary.

Therefore, I will no longer pray for a heart for the lost, just a conviction for the lost. Nor will I sing “Heart For The Nations” ever again. Although I might sing “Our Heart”, just because the major 6th chord on “rise in honest worship” is one of the coolest chords ever, accompanying one of the coolest lyrics ever. Honest worship. What a great sentiment.