“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
– Jim Elliot.
I first heard these revolutionary words spoken at a retreat I attended
while in youth group; I chose this quote to accompany my high school
yearbook photo. Freshman year in college I read Passion and Purity
by Elisabeth Elliot. Aside from any advice I got about how to approach
my love life, I wanted to learn more about how they – Elisabeth and her
first, late husband, Jim – loved the Lord.
Everything I’ve read
about these radical followers of Christ challenges how I believe in
God, but Jim’s life in particular strikes me. Jim loved Jesus a lot; his passion for Him
saturated everything he thought and did. He leveraged everything he had
for the sake of the gospel, of knowing Him and making Him known. He
enjoyed being completely real and honest with God, and shared that
freedom in his relationships with others.
I can’t say the same for
myself, but I want to. Jim and I both know that God is worthy of
everything. I think the key difference is that Jim gave Him more
chances to prove it; not that he tested God, but that he made more
opportunities available to God to work powerfully.
For example,
Elisabeth recounts how while a student at Wheaton College, Jim would
memorize Bible verses or study Greek flashcards while waiting in line
in the dining hall. Though he struggled to do so, he gladly surrendered
the prospect of marriage so that he might be as available and as
dedicated as possible for missions. He so earnestly desired that the
Waodani (formerly known as the Auca) people become Christ’s disciples
that he wrote in his journal that he’d lay down his life for them. And
God honored that desire (which is why I’m starting to believe that you
need to be careful for what you pray for).
know, because I do it – to read his life story and think to think, “I’m
never gonna be like that.” Too often I look at my deficiencies and
mistakes and wonder how God will do anything with me. But I’ve been
noticing that the common thread that runs through such lives is a joy
and intimacy with Jesus which nourishes the kind of trust and faith
that enables ordinary men and women of God to follow boldly and
recklessly.
I want to experience the love and reality that woulddrive a man to dedicate everything to God the way Jim Elliot did. God’s
love challenges and compels me, too; I’m still engaged in the battle to
believe – not just to know about it – that this love is for me, and
that it’s real.
So for me, it’s not so much what I believe, but how I believe in whom I believe.
(photo of Jim Elliot from Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center
archives)
