Friday, January 09, 2009
According to what?
Yesterday marked fifty-three years since Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and Ed Mcully were killed in Ecuador by the Waodoni tribe. Their desire was to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a people known to be hostile and dangerous to all outsiders. Despite potential danger, these men, their wives and children moved to South America with the intent to establish relationships with the Wadoni tribe and see them live for Christ.
However, the warnings about these people proved fatal for the three men. They died making contact with the tribe. Of all the ways these men could have lived a life of ministry they chose something extremely dangerous knowing they could leave their family husbandless and fatherless.
What makes such a lifestyle choice acceptable and rational? Clearly these gifted men could have been missionaries in many other areas where people had never heard about Jesus Christ and been faithful to Christ as well as possibly seeing people accept the Gospel. But they chose to follow a calling that many people, even in the church, may say is unreasonable. I don't recall their friends' and families' response to their move and mission so I am merely bringing this topic up to encourage people to think about the values with which they seek to live their lives. Is the love of Christ the constraining power driving you? Or is natural reason or selfish motives driving your decisions?
Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." May the love of Christ and His call to love move us beyond human rationality to godly wisdom.
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2 comments:
Hi JM- this post brings to mind firstly the Roman Martyrology, a "listing" the church has of some 7000+ known martyrs for the Faith, from which all priests read daily. Second, the Jesuit martyrs of North America in the 1600's, who came to convert the native Indian tribes, and who met excruciating deaths. They were tortured and some even had their consecrated fingers chewed off... and yet, they would continue to try to win souls for Christ, even until the last of them was dead. Thirdly, the estimated MILLIONS of the faithful who lost their lives in various persecutions, from Diocletian to the Communists. We Christians have had our own holocaust since the day Christ was born, beginning with the slaughter of the innocents by Herod, because he was afraid of a beautiful innocent Babe in a manger...God bless you much, Shelley
Hey friend,
Thanks for the reminder of this important anniversary.
In light of your post, I thought I would share a link to some pictures from our trip to Ecuador this summer: http://picasaweb.google.com/robertandjenniferpatterson/MAFTripToEcuador?feat=directlink
Included in the album is a picture of us standing inside the Hope in Christ Church in the village of Tiweano. We had the privilege of meeting a number of the Waodoni people, including one of their church leaders named Dewie. In his life before coming to know Christ, Dewie was a very violent man who actually had a role in the martyrdom of the five missionaries at Palm Beach. Now, in Christ, Dewie joyfully meets each and every MAF plane that lands in their village and has a reputation for being a prayer warrior and evangelist, seeking to share the good news with their neighboring villages. When we landed in Tiweano, he ran to the airplane (leaving one of his two boots behind at home) and was eager to pray for and welcome the MAF pilot and his passengers.
Dewie's powerful testimony serves as a beautiful reminder of the power of the Gospel to transform our sinful hearts and make us new creatures for His glory.
Thanks for the post!
Robert
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