True compassion

David Wells' new book, God in the Whirlwind is a good tonic for the evangelical movement today.  At the risk of oversimplifying it, the central premise is that God's holiness cannot be divorced from His love, what Dr. Wells calls Holy-love.  It's a simple yet profound truth.  This twin idea converges at the Cross where the standard of holiness required by God's very own nature encounters His love as demonstrated by giving Himself up for us. 

When this delicate balance is tampered with, when love becomes a category based solely on some notion of tolerance, kindness and inclusivity, we inevitably lose something on the side of holiness.  Conversely, when holiness is emphasized at the expense of love, we end up with a mentality that judges rather harshly the failings of others and we soon forget that if we applied the standards by which we judge others to ourselves... well, let's just say there wouldn't be many of us looking too good in the end (to put it charitably).   Emotional and sentimental spirituality vs. coldhearted and smug religion.  Two very unattractive extremes!
So what we need to recover is what Luther found out for himself  half a millennium ago:  theologia crucis, a theology of the Cross where the holiness of God is fully displayed and preserved and where His love and compassion for sinners is equally manifested in full force.  Jesus lived out this dual truth: His acts of mercy and compassion and inclusion of sinners were NEVER divorced from his call to repentance and holy living.  In a stunning display of his compassion, he accepted and embraced the one everyone was ready to stone for her sexual sin.  He didn't condemn her BUT he also said: "go and sin no more."  So, the Gospel can never be less than a manifestation of God's love and compassion for the unlovable (sinners like you and me), but if we do not include the call to repentance, we actually dilute the meaning of His love and compassion.  It's only against the background of holiness that the full measure of His love can be manifested.  Preach the Cross, Billy Graham told himself as a young preacher.  Our works of compassion and mercy deserve no less.