At the age of 22 Jim Elliot wrote these words to his father in a letter dated April 13, 1950, “I met with twenty-five young people, high school age and over, last night after the meeting before I went to the bus and had a serious time dealing with them about private study of the Scriptures, personal holiness, and down-to-business living for Christ.”
Jim Elliot was more than qualified to speak about down-to-business living for Christ. His life was permeated with a desire to live a life that thoroughly glorified Jesus in all that he did. When Jim was between the ages of 20 and 24 he penned the following quotes in his journal and in letters to family and friends:
“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”
“He makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame.”
“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”
“Christ needs some young fellows to sell out to Him and recklessly toss their lives into His work.”
“He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”
After college and some time spent in various ministries Jim traveled to Ecuador to minister among the Quichua Indians. God had also implanted within Jim’s heart a desire to reach the Auca people. The Auca were a primitive and savage people who were hostile toward the Quichua and outsiders. It was dangerous to attempt to reach the Auca, yet Jim knew that this was what God had called him to do and that the Gospel was the Auca’s only hope.
Less than six years after he wrote to his father about “down-to-business living for Christ” Jim Elliot would lie dead on the banks of a secluded river in the jungles of Ecuador having been run threw with a spear by the very people that he desired to share the Gospel with. His widow concludes her story of Jim’s life in this way:
“Suffice it to say that on Friday the thrill of Jim’s lifetime was given. He took an Auca by the hand. At last the twain met. Five American men, three naked savages. Two days later, on Sunday, January 8, 1956, the men for whom Jim Elliot had prayed for six years killed him and his four companions.” Jim Elliot, at the age of 28, lay dead on the banks of the Curaray River in the jungle of Ecuador.
As his widow begins the Epilogue she writes, “W. Somerset Maugham, in Of Human Bondage, wrote, ‘These old folk had done nothing, and when they died it would be just as if they had never been.’ Jim’s comment on this was, ‘God deliver me!’” And God did indeed deliver Jim Elliot from such a wasted life. His life and death were characterized with bold obedience to Jesus Christ. And though when he died he had very little of material value, he left an enduring legacy and an example of self-sacrifice for the cause of Christ to the peoples of the world.
God deliver us so that we would not waste our lives, but would live them for the glory of Jesus Christ and the spread of His Gospel to the nations!
All quotes are from: Elisabeth Elliot. Shadow of the Almighty. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1958.
Jim Elliot was more than qualified to speak about down-to-business living for Christ. His life was permeated with a desire to live a life that thoroughly glorified Jesus in all that he did. When Jim was between the ages of 20 and 24 he penned the following quotes in his journal and in letters to family and friends:
“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”
“He makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame.”
“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”
“Christ needs some young fellows to sell out to Him and recklessly toss their lives into His work.”
“He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”
After college and some time spent in various ministries Jim traveled to Ecuador to minister among the Quichua Indians. God had also implanted within Jim’s heart a desire to reach the Auca people. The Auca were a primitive and savage people who were hostile toward the Quichua and outsiders. It was dangerous to attempt to reach the Auca, yet Jim knew that this was what God had called him to do and that the Gospel was the Auca’s only hope.
Less than six years after he wrote to his father about “down-to-business living for Christ” Jim Elliot would lie dead on the banks of a secluded river in the jungles of Ecuador having been run threw with a spear by the very people that he desired to share the Gospel with. His widow concludes her story of Jim’s life in this way:
“Suffice it to say that on Friday the thrill of Jim’s lifetime was given. He took an Auca by the hand. At last the twain met. Five American men, three naked savages. Two days later, on Sunday, January 8, 1956, the men for whom Jim Elliot had prayed for six years killed him and his four companions.” Jim Elliot, at the age of 28, lay dead on the banks of the Curaray River in the jungle of Ecuador.
As his widow begins the Epilogue she writes, “W. Somerset Maugham, in Of Human Bondage, wrote, ‘These old folk had done nothing, and when they died it would be just as if they had never been.’ Jim’s comment on this was, ‘God deliver me!’” And God did indeed deliver Jim Elliot from such a wasted life. His life and death were characterized with bold obedience to Jesus Christ. And though when he died he had very little of material value, he left an enduring legacy and an example of self-sacrifice for the cause of Christ to the peoples of the world.
God deliver us so that we would not waste our lives, but would live them for the glory of Jesus Christ and the spread of His Gospel to the nations!
All quotes are from: Elisabeth Elliot. Shadow of the Almighty. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1958.
No comments:
Post a Comment