No Fooling

April 01, 2025

“Once upon a time, before you were born, there were in Ecuador a tribe of so-called ‘savages.’ Not very much was known about these people. They were naked, they used stone tools, and they killed strangers. Nobody had ever gone into their territory and come out alive. Missionaries had been praying that God would enable them someday to take the Gospel—the truth of Jesus’ salvation for every person--to these Aucas, but it had never happened--until 1956.”

This legendary narrative, told by Elisabeth Elliot, described how five young North American men banded together and planned how to introduce Jesus to the Auca Indians. The men flew via a small airplane into the Amazon jungle near an Auca settlement and actually did make contact with some Auca people. Elisabeth was the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the five men; she’s told and written this story innumerable times (see Resources below).

In Western first-world thinking, the men’s mission was not successful. All five men were speared and killed by the Aucas. They left five widows and a crop of young children. But their story mushroomed into a chronicle of five lives that were willingly sacrificed, becoming seeds that grew into living faith in Jesus in that Auca tribe, and beyond. The men’s deaths also ignited the desire for missions in a legion of young adults who heard the story and pledged to serve God all over the globe. The work of missions—carrying the truth of salvation through Jesus to unreached people—was rocket fueled.

Jim Elliot’s story has been the most publicized of the five, as Elisabeth wrote and spoke throughout the rest of her life about how Jim and his partners laid down their lives to offer the Gospel to those who had not heard of Jesus. From Jim Elliot’s extensive journals came this quote that continues to confront each of us about our choices and destinies:

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

When we choose to devotedly follow Jesus, we might lose our hold on many things: advancement in our jobs, a retirement fund, American comforts and pleasures, extended family time, health. From a biblical stance, the greater eternal gain of life with God forever for people who choose to accept Jesus justifies the letting go of here-on-earth benefits of home, health, financial security, etc.

Elisabeth Elliot summarized it: “You don’t just decide one Tuesday morning that you’re going to be a hero of the faith. There has to be a period, a long period, maybe years, of learning to walk humbly in obedience with God. You put one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, one day at a time, year after year---beginning now.”

If this kind of obedient discipleship resonates with you, consider attending Urbana 2025. Give God opportunity to show you his design on your life.

Read some missionary biographies or listen to some mission podcasts. Read the New Testament and see how surrendered lives results in gains of what can’t be lost.