For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Hebrews 10:36
Five men came together with a burden to reach the lost in Ecuador: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian. In January, 1956, after months of preparing to reach the Auca Indians, these men made their first face-to-face contact with the savages. Perhaps it was because they were, in the words of Nate Saint, “continents and wide seas apart psychologically,” that the Indians did not receive these men or their gospel in the way they had hoped they would. January 7, 1956 would be the last day on earth for each of the five men who had found a cause much bigger than themselves. Make no mistake, these were not men who had worthlessly given their lives in the middle of nowhere because they were seeking personal gain. They were men who had found that the calling of God on their lives had transcended even life itself. Jim Elliot stated it clearly: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Elisabeth Elliot wrote about her husband and
his death mates in her book Through Gates
of Splendor. The wives of these brave missionaries were devastated when
they found the bodies of their husbands floating face-down in the river, some
with spears still protruding from the loving hearts that they had been thrust
into. Ironically, it took the death of these five men for the Aucas to
recognize that these men were not there to harm them but to lead them to a
Saviour Who could change their lives. Through the dedication of the
missionaries’ wives, many of their husbands’ murderers were saved, and a great
work was started in that village.
God has a plan for every life. There is
not one person ever created that God wasted His time forming. That means that
no matter what your position in life or where you came from, God can do
something with you. He has a specific plan for your life. Your responsibility
is to be close enough to God to find out what it is that He wants you to do.
When you find His plan for your life, there is nothing in this world that is
more important or that is worth giving up your life to follow. Being in God’s
will is the most fulfilling goal in life. Even if following God’s will means a
life of sacrifice or death, like it did for the five missionaries to the Auca
Indians, there are no greater rewards than those earned in service to God. You
must simply find God’s will, then do it.
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