It's The People I Can't Stand
Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbors whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary (The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, 2001, p28).
This reminds me of the Peanuts cartoon where Linus says, “I love mankind…it’s the people I can’t stand!!”
More seriously, it’s so easy to direct malice toward your closest neighbors, like your wife or kids. While at the same time hypocritically “loving” those in far away countries.
It’s good to love and pray for people you don’t know, but you will have a greater impact on the world by loving and praying for people whom you meet every day.
Many of us know the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), but there is something we might miss. Jesus tells the parable after being asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Who is your neighbor? It’s not primarily someone distant who you can love without getting your hands dirty. It’s the person bleeding on the road in front of you who is going to mess up your plans for the day.
Don’t follow Screwtape’s advice to Wormwood. Instead, show malice to no one and show benevolence to everyone. Starting with your immediate neighbors whom God has put right in front of you.
What do you think?
Joseph