Jim Elliot, who was a missionary to the Waodoni people of Ecuador, was martyred in 1956 by the very people he was trying to save. Elliot’s most famous quote is this: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Whatever we are sacrificing for the cause of Christ is in fact no sacrifice at all…not when we look at it through the lens of eternity. We joyfully give up temporal, transient, and trivial things so that we may gain a reward that is imperishable and unfading. If you are holding on to something, knowing that God is calling you to give it up, whether it be time, money, energy, sleep, health, or even your life, know that you are not really giving it up. You are securing it for eternity. I would rather lose the world and gain eternity than vice versa. Whatever you give up in this life for the Kingdom of God, Jesus will not fail to reward you. So let me encourage you to part ways with that which does not matter so we can secure the only thing that does. Jesus truly is a treasure worth selling everything for.
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