Today - Jim Elliot

On this date in 1956, Jim Elliot, a missionary to the Auca Indians in Ecuador, was martyred. Four other servants of God died with him. Jim is known for a quote found in his diary, which seemed to characterize his life:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. (1949)

His journals contained some other gems as well:

One treasure, a single eye, and a sole master. (1948) God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn 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. (1948) Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul? Short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him. ‘Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.’ (1948) As your life is in His hands, so are the days of your life. But don’t let the sands of time get into the eye of your vision to reach those who sit in darkness. They simply must hear. (1948) I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women. (1950) The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for. (1952)

I thank God on this, the anniversary of his death, for selfless believers like Jim Elliot, who take the gospel to the ends of the earth.