The Fool

January 15, 2019

Genesis 31:17-32:12, Matthew 10:26-11:6, Psalm 13:1-6, Proverbs 3:16-18

Last Tuesday, 1/8, was the 63rd anniversary of Jim Elliot's death. He was one of five missionaries that was killed by a native village in Ecuador as they made attempts to spread the Gospel in this unreached area. Growing up I read the books about him and other great missionaries like Hudson Taylor and Amy Carmichael. I wrote some of his famous quotes in my journals, notebooks, and Bible to see daily...to inspire and encourage. His most well-known quotes was, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."  

In 1999 as a freshman in high school, I entered the current era and reality of what we know know today, school shootings. The Columbine shooting in Colorado happened in April that year and it scared me more than I can describe. Stories of students being killed because they said they were followers of Christ shaped me and still there today. I remembered that quote from Jim Elliot even more. In Matthew 10 Jesus is teaching and speaking to His disciples. He tells them of persecution that will lay ahead, of uneasy roads, of the cost in will cost to follow Him. Even as he paints a picture of uneasy days, He gives hope, "Even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." 

A few verses down Christ first mentions a phrase that we see through the Gospels, "And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Verses 37-38). God willing, we will never be martyred for our faith or ever be put in that situation, but how many times in a daily basis is our faith tested? Do we carry our cross? Do we love each precious day that we are given dedicated to God's glory? 

I pray that we live and echo David's psalm that we would, "Trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me."  (Psalm 13: 5-6). May you be blessed, take up your cross, and give up your life that you may gain eternity.