“I’ll tell you why I left.”

April 22, 2010

In this past Sunday’s sermon, Andy Johnson encouraged us to consider our love for the Name (the Lord Jesus). As 3 John explains, Christians go out to share the gospel because they love the Name. Jim Elliot explains why he left the United States to serve Christ on the mission field, and I think his explanation reveals his own love for the Name. He desires to see others come to love the Name, and scorns the rejection of the Name.

You wonder why people choose fields away from the States when young people at home are drifting because no one wants to take time to listen to their problems. I’ll tell you why I left. Because those Stateside young people have every opportunity to study, hear, and understand the Word of God in their own language, and these Indians have no opportunity whatsoever. I have had to make a cross of two logs, and lie down on it, to show the Indians what it means to crucify a man. When there is that much ignorance over here and so much knowledge and opportunity over there, I have no question in my mind why God sent me here. Those whimpering Stateside young people will wake up on the Day of Judgment condemned to worst fates than these demon-fearing Indians, because having a Bible, they were bored with it — while these never heard of such a thing as writing (Shadow of the Almighty, p. 237).

HT: Thabiti

Under Blog, Evangelism