October 28, 1949, 22-year-old Jim Elliot journaled seismic words still reverberating in our hearts: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
What eternal treasure did Jim have in mind? Lasting friendship.
In his journal, immediately following his inspiring thought, Elliot noted Jesus’ promise…” that when ‘it’ (‘wealth’) shall fail, ‘they’ (‘friends’) may receive you into everlasting habitations.” (Luke 16:9, KJV)
Thus, when Elliot wrote: “what he cannot keep” – he had in mind riches so many of us seek. “Cast but a glance at ‘riches’ (‘what we accumulate’), and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” (Proverbs 23:4)
Among such accumulations could be people Jim attempted to befriend but whose friendship he could not keep. As Jim read his Bible, he discovered friends can lead us into sin; they can be superficial, believing lies about us and even betraying us – like Jesus’ “friend,” Judas. (Matthew 26:48)
And what would Elliot “gain that he could not lose?” Real friends, true friends, friends for eternity – especially the One the Bible calls The Friend of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Ananias – God! “The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:11)
God befriended Jim. So, Jim spoke intimately about God. “Mayhap, in mercy, He shall give me a host of children” to lead “through the vast star fields, to explore His delicacies, whose fingers’ ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, smell His garments, and smile into my Lover’s eyes, ah, then, not stars, nor children, shall matter–only Himself.”
“I walked out on the hill just now, and it is exalting. It is delicious to stand and be embraced by the shadow of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens tugging at your heart. To gaze and glory and give oneself again to God. The fullness, pleasure, and sheer excitement of knowing God on earth.”
Hear Jim describe his missionary calling: “Missionaries are very human folks; simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody.” Jim believed God called him to be a missionary to the Quichua tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle.
And more. Jim wrote: “Surely those who know the great passionate heart of Jehovah must deny their own loves to share in the expression of His. Consider the call from the Throne above: ‘Go ye,’ and from round about: ‘Come over and help us,’ and even the call from the damned souls below: ‘Send Lazarus to my brothers, that they come not to this place.’ Impelled, then, by these voices, I dare not stay home while Quichuas perish.” The Gospel alone could change Quichuas’ hearts.
As Jim read the New Testament, fellow Christians are referred to 33 times as “dear friends.” Through Christ, Jim anticipated forever friends among the Quichuas.
However, January 8, 1956, Quichuas treacherously murdered Jim and four co-workers. Earlier Jim wrote: How “feelingless and obdurate the heart of man.”
Survived by his wife, Elisabeth, and their 10-month-old daughter Valerie, Jim earlier presciently wrote: “When the time comes to die, make sure that all you have to do is die! If we are the sheep of His pasture, remember that sheep are headed for the altar. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus.”
Among those “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” were those “killed by the ‘sword.’” (Hebrews 11:16, 37) Here ‘sword’ is “máχaira” – a short slaughter knife – similar to the tip of the spear that took Jim’s life.
Certainly, Jim became a “martyr” – literally, a “witness.” And why would God allow friends like Jim to be killed? Tertullian wrote in AD 197: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Can we trust God to transform death and resurrect life?
God warned our first parents, “’dying’ you will ‘die’” if you eat the fruit of the forbidden tree (Genesis 2:17) They did. Immediately, they died spiritually. Eventually, they died physically.
Thus we meet “muth,” Hebrew for “death.” “Muth” is used a whopping 839x in the Old Testament. And the Greek “thanatos,” “death, ” is used 119x in the NT.
When God warns us the wages of sin bring death, he is dead serious. He is The Friend who must be believed. Brown, Driver, and Briggs first published their standard reference for Biblical Hebrew in 1906. They list 88 references where holy God justly inflicts death. Would you have the courage to study those passages? As a student of the Bible, Jim knew God’s warnings.
But he also knew the death of Jesus brought resurrection life to many. He wanted Quichuas to know the love of God in Christ.
For example, backtrack to Israelites wandering three days in the desert without water. Then they came to “Marah’s” (“bitterness”) undrinkable waters. God had Moses throw in a stick. The waters became sweet! Jim commented: “Ah, how many Marahs have been sweetened by a simple, satisfying glimpse of the Tree and the Love which underwent its worst conflict there. Yes, the Cross is the tree that sweetens the waters. ‘Love never fails.’”
For the young wives and children of Jim and his compatriots, what could transform the bitterness of these seemingly premature deaths? How they trusted Jesus! Find their enthralling stories. Jim’s wife, Elisabeth, with her three-year-old daughter, Val, moved in with the Quichua. Eventually, Quichuas came to faith in Christ.
Jesus heralds his death and deaths of his followers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears ‘much’ “’many’/’multitudinous’/’plenteous’ fruit.” (John 12:24)
Friend, this prolific Unexpected Friend loves at all times. (Prov 17:17) He gives pure hearts, gracious speech, and the King’s friendship. (Prov 22:11) Let’s gaze and glory and give ourselves again to God.
Note 1: Quotes from Jim Elliot come from The Journals of Jim Elliot.
Note 2: Philip James Elliot was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 8, 1927. He enrolled at Wheaton College in the fall of 1945 and graduated four years later as a Bible major with highest honors.
Note 3: Another name for Quichua is the Huaorani, also called the “Auca,” the Quichua word for “savage.” They were known for violence, especially to outsiders.
Note 4: Jim’s four missionary friends martyred with him were: Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Note 5: Read Elisabeth’s books: “Through Gates of Splendor” (1957) and “The Savage, My Kinsman” (Regal; Anniversary edition, October 24, 2003). Also see the award-winning movie, “The Tip of the Spear” (2005).
Note 6: Jim’s daughter, Val, married Walt Shephard, a pastor, and they had eight children. She has written: “Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot.”
Note 7: Be astonished – in Jesus, God chooses to be the friend of sinners (Mt. 11:19, Lk. 7:34).
Jesus values friendship:
- In his stories, he includes friends as characters (Mt. 20:13; 22: 12, Lk 11:5; 15:5).
- In his teaching, he tells us about friendship (Lk 14:10; 16:8, Jn. 15:13).
- He addresses his disciples as friends (Lk.12:4, Jn. 21:5).
- He calls individuals “friend” (Lk. 5:20, Jn. 11:11).
