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I often hear people say that “we should have a heart for the lost.” But I would like to say that this is, in fact, a bad thing. We should not have a heart for the lost.

Often you will hear this when people speak on evangelism or missions. The theology behind it is that God has a heart for the lost. He desires to see people saved. And so it is argued that we also should have that same heart for the lost. We also should be passionate for evangelism and missions – instead of being concerned with our own comfortable lives.

And for Christians who speak like this, it is inconceivable that God would want for anything apart from the salvation of his precious creatures. For these Christians, it is axiomatic that human lives are of infinite worth.

And of course there are passages where God reveals that he does desire for people to be saved (eg. 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, John 3:16).

But the problem is that there are many other passages that reveal that the salvation of people is in fact only a means to God’s ultimate goal – his own glory. Consider passages like Ephesians 1:4-6 that show that our election, predestination and adoption lead as the ultimate step ”to the praise of his glorious grace”. Or again in 1:11-12 how we are “for the praise of his glory”. Or 1 Peter 2:9 where our election and gathering is so that we might delcare his praises. And in fact a multitude of places in the Old Testament where God proclaims that he does things “for his Name”.

I tie my shoe laces … so that I can go running. The tying of shoe laces is important – but it is only the means to the ultimate goal of running. It would be ludicrous for a man whose passion and focus is only on the tying of shoelaces to call himself an athlete! But quite naturally, the athlete who runs will devote the proper attention to the tying of his shoelaces.

For this reason I wish we would lose the unhelpful phrase, “having a heart for the lost.” Because in the end God’s concern for the lost is subsumed by his concern for his Name. It is more appropriate for us to speak of us being “jealous for God’s glory!”

If we are jealous for God’s glory, we will be passionate that people who currently do not see his goodness come to do so. We will be disturbed that people do not worship him as they were created to do, and long that they come to do so. If our concern is for the glory of God, we will want for people to come to love him, fear him, and worship him alone. And when people do not believe – we also know that this will one day also lead to God’s glory in his judgment (Rev 11:16-18) - just as it did in the Old Testament (eg. Eze 29:8-9).

“Having a heart for the lost” and “being jealous for God’s glory” are not the same - just as running is not the same as the tying of shoelaces. Of course they are linked – but to put the focus on the wrong one, is not good enough. If we evangelise because we have “a heart for the lost,” our efforts will in the end be idolatrous. Because we have made God’s creatures the ultimate good – and not the glory of God. And in the end, Paul says that this exchange is at the heart of foolishness (Rom 1:22).

I have noticed that it is Arminianism which tends to elevate the value of humans, that will favour language that talks about “having a heart for the lost.” However those who are truly Reformed will see the supreme value of the glory of God. As Calvin wrote in Reply to Sadoleto,

It is not very sound theology to confine a man’s thought so much to himself, and not to set before him, as the prime motive for his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God. For we are born first of all for God, and not for ourselves.

John Calvin, Reply to Sadoleto

So please: stop asking people to “have God’s heart for the lost.” And instead call on people to “be jealous for the glory of God!”

[ PS: where have you heard that phrase used recently? ]