think of the things people said to abraham, when he left ur of chaldees to go to the land that GOD had promised him.
they undoubtedly said the same kind of things to peter, andrew, james, and john when they left their profitable fishing business to become “fishers of men.”
men of faith who have been willing to respond to the challenges of the unknown have heard the same kind of things over and over again.
william cary was a shoemaker. one day he heard of the millions in india to whom no one had ever gone with the good news of JESUS CHRIST. he believed that the great commission to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” included him.
so he volunteered to go to india but was told, “young man, sit down. when it pleases GOD to convert the heathen, HE will do it without your help or mine!” he went anyway, supporting himself. for 7 years he worked without seeing a single convert - but he lived to see hundreds of churches and thousands of converts. today he is called the “father of modern missions.”
in the book, “through gates of splendor” we read of jim elliott and 4 of his companions who went to preach to the auca indians. it is a tragic story, they were killed by those savage indians to whom they sought to witness. “tragic waste” “talented and gifted men - committed men - lives stopped short - tremendous waste” but was it really?
maybe elliott said it best – “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”
we cannot keep our lives, people. it is ours for a fleeting moment - a vapor that appears and then disappears. when you “give up what you cannot keep to gain what you can never lose” - indeed you are no fool! these were men who responded in faith, and wise men in every generation have always responded in faith!
just a thought from the front porch…
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