I recently travelled deep into the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador to the exact spot where, on a sandbar in the Curaray river, on January 6th, 1956, five missionaries landed to share the good news about Jesus. Two days later, they all lost their lives, speared to death by Auca tribe warriors next to their yellow Piper single engine plane. I was more than a little stunned as I stared into the muddy water. They gave their lives in hopes of sharing the good news of Jesus.
What does that have to do with Christmas, you say? Seven days before Christmas, and twenty one days before he was killed, one of the missionaries, Jim Elliott wrote this in his journal:
“As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance…. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility. If God would grant us the vision, the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts; our lives would suddenly be too short,…May God help us to judge ourselves by the eternities that separate the Aucas from a comprehension of Christmas and Him.”
Jesus came to earth 2,025 years ago to give us a pathway to life forever with him and He is coming back again. Are you acting like he might come back in your lifetime? Or are you acting like he will only return after you die? After all, He said his return would be like a thief in the night. Who are you telling about Jesus? Once we know Jesus personally, we are to let His light shine in us.
This Christmas, as you remember Jesus’ birth, let’s remember that he is coming again, and it may be sooner than later. It’s time to live like Jim Elliott and his four friends. Are you willing to give up what you cannot keep, to gain what you cannot lose?
Greg Leith
Convene CEO
