Are you wise? Or are you a fool?

Originally posted on March 09,2006 Thursday


This is a famous quote from Jim Elliott's journal:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

When Jim died he was only 29. So young. So much potential. So much talents. He had so much going for him. He had so much skill, so outgoing, so eloquent, so poetic, a wrestler champion, a speaker on demand and everyone loved hearing him preach. And most of all he loved God so much.

I read his expressions in his journal and his straightforwardness and heart for God touched me deeply when I turned 22. His life inspired me to give my life totally to God.

Sometimes in the quietness of our heart, we think: It seems like Jim had become "a fool" for dying so young. All that gone at one shot. It seemed like an accident from the human point of view.

Just imagine what would happen if he had lived longer? This is how we humans tend to think. He could have lived another 29 years with a lot of effectiveness, etc.

But from his quote "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." it said it all about his life. What he could not keep, he gave it all, for eg. his health, his life, his youth, his time, his energy, etc.

And in return, what did he gain? A POWERFUL testimony turning a lot of people to the Lord even after his death.

My Beloved, do not seek to live long.

Do not seek to extend your life by seconds, weeks, months or even years.

LIVE FULLY today in the will of the Lord.This is how you become wise and not fools.

Jim and the 4 missionaries who died of a martyr death left a deep mark today in the American's hearts, not just theirs, but all over the world now.

Their lives were NOT wasted.Though they had died young, their deaths still speak.

Let their testimony speak to your heart this year, being their 50th anniversary.

Let us learn to be wise in the way we live.