Palm Sunday—Sold out for Jesus

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”
These are possibly the most well known words from the journal of Jim Elliot. Jim Elliot, along with Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully and Pete Fleming gave their lives in the cause of Christ. The story has been told before, most recently in the film The End of the Spear. But this single story is not the whole story.
Jim Elliot did not become a committed follower of Jesus when he arrived in Ecuador, it began long before that. In Shadow of the Almighty we are introduced to Jim through his letters and journal entries. Jim Elliot’s overriding passion was to follow Jesus whatever the cost might be. Wherever he went he challenged himself and other to commit wholeheartedly to serving God.
But let’s think about the story of Ecuador for a moment. When Jim Elliot went to the jungle region of Ecuador there was an already established mission work amongst some of the indigenous Indian people. He could have continued that work, (there were even those who thought he could best be used by God back home in a teaching ministry). But he knew that there were others who had yet to hear about Jesus. He wanted to reach them too. Everyone knew the dangers—the Aucas were well known for their violent reaction to outsiders. They had suffered violence at the hands of foreigners and they had responed with violence. But still Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries wanted to try to reach them.
Was he foolish to do this? Perhaps Jim Elliot’s answer would be something like: “Better a fool for Christ than a fool for anyone else.”
Those five men and their families knew the risk, they knew what the price could be, but they were willing to pay that price in order to bring the gospel of Jesus to a lost people. Without their sacrifice it’s hard to imagine that the story could have unfolded in the way it did. And the truth of the matter is we will never know if there was another way. All we do know is that Jim Elliot and his friends decided that the price was worth paying for the sake of these people.
So, what price are you willing to pay for the purposes of God? Could you stand with Jim Elliot and the others and say, “All for Jesus”?
In an interview shortly before her death, Marj Saint, Nate’s widow, talks about her personal prayer long before she met Nate. Her Prayer was imply this: “Lord, you will in my life at any cost.” She lost two husbands, and faced cancer four times. But even at the end of her life she said that if she could go back and do it all again, the prayer would still be the same. Could you pray that prayer? God may not ask you to lay down your life, he may not ask you to leave the comfort of your home, but he does ask you if you are willing to follow him with all your heart. If you are ready to do this, then you are ready to pray that prayer.