Josh Hatcher's Blog

I am reading a book called Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot by Elizabeth Elliot.

Jim Elliot is one of the missionaries that was killed in Ecuador in the 1950's... the subjects of the movie "End of the Spear"
You can read more about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot

Elliot's faith was amazing, and my borrowed copy of the book is quickly thickening with little yellow post-its marking my favorite parts. (on almost every page)

I thought I would blog about some of the things that I found interesting.

Personal Convictions
Jim Elliot's convictions were solid. He held his convictions firmly, and he would not budge to do what God had told him not to do. I don't hold to the same convictions, but I respect the way He consistently lived what he believed. Jim would not attend school dances, and he thought Christians had no role in war or politics.
He considered himself a "citizen of heaven", and NOT a citizen of any kingdom on this earth. That, in his mind, exempted him and prevented him from getting involved with politics. Had he been drafted to fight in World War II, he would have been a contientious objector, refusing to serve based on his spiritual convictions.

Again, I don't share those convictions, but I love how firmly Jim held to his.

Education

The book quotes this passage from 1 Corinthians 8

We should remember that while knowledge may make a man look big, it is only love that can make him grow to his full stature. For whatever a man may know, he still has a lot to learn, but if he loves God, he is opening his whole life to the Spirit of God.

Jim lived by this. He got a college education at Wheaton, but often wrote in letters and journal entries about his frustration with the way education distracted him from his relationship with God.

He was a god student, but when his grades started to suffer, he wrote to his family that he was working mainly on his degree of "AUG", which he called his "Approved Unto God."

Elliot wrote, "The acquisition of academic knowledge (the pride of life) is a wearing process and I wonder now if it is all worth while... What thing better can a man know than the love of Christ, which passes knowledge? Oh to be revelling in the knowlege o Him, rather than walling in the quagmire of inscrutable philosphy!"


One Track Mind
Jim went to school because he sensed God telling him to go there. He didn't get involved with many other activities, because He was focused on training his life for the rigors of missionary work. His friend accused him of having a one track mind.
Indeed, his friends also wrote that Jim frequently prayed "O, God, my heart is fixed."

Jim knew that he was going to wholeheartedly strive after Jesus, and nothing would sway that.

His one track mind even changed his feelings toward the things he used to love, but now felt less important as he compared them with Christ.

He said of a football game: "The shouting seems a useless process... far better to be shouting God's praises." That's not to say he didn't enjoy or get into the game, just that he seemed to care less about it than he did about God.

Prayer
Jim wrote this in his journal:

March 22 : I lack the fervency, vitality, life in prayer which i longfor. I know that many consider it fanaticism when they hear anything which does not conform to the conventional, sleep inducing eulogies so often rising from Laodicean lips; but I know too that these same people can acquiescently tolerate sin in their lives and in the church without so much as tilting one hair of their eyebrows. Cold prayers, like cold suitors, are seldom effective in their aims.

BE
Jim wrote this of a speech he gave in college:

...beyond 'believing' and 'behaving' in the Christian life, there is also 'being'...
Be not ignorant
Be not decieved
Be sober
Be vigilant
Be mindful of the word
Be steadfast

Exclusion of All but "The Will"

Jim wouldn't date in college. He had a girl that he really liked. (and one day married) but until God confirmed that they should be together, he was content just to be friends. He refused to let anything in his life if it distracted him from God.
Elizabeth wrote this:

Jim enjoyed to the full all that he believed God had given him to enjoy, but he felt it wisest to exclude from the sphere of activity anything which had the power to distract him from the pursuit of The Will.

No Inheritance
Jim journaled after reading about the Levites in Deuteronomy 9 and 10, and their lack of inheritance. Jim said "Lord ifv you will bu allow me to take this set apart place, by your grace, I will covet no inheritance. Nothing but Christ."

Jim wanted only Jesus, and nothing else mattered to him. His "heart was fixed."

Looking for Truth

Jim looked at scripture as alive, and thought that God would reveal new truth through it. It was not to be locked into rigid interpretation, but rather to be read with fresh insight each time. And if he didn't get something fresh, sometimes he would get frustrated.

Yesterday though I had plenty of time for study and read the chapter faithfully, and earnestly sought truth that would be fresh, I cannot say that I found any. Perhaps I sought too hard. Perhaps I strove with the Spirit and frightened the Heavenly Dove in my eagerness. Teach me, Lord, how to listen and not always seek to squeeze truth out of scriptures which you have not yet chosen to open. My study and prayer time is not yet what I would have it.

I like how he talks about God "unlocking truth" from scripture when He is ready. I've seen it happen like that.

In the 40's and 50's "fundamentalist" Christianity was a popular movement, preaching dispensationalism... that God moved in different ways at different times. People would often look at Jim and scratch their heads at his ideas, because he didn't fit in to their cookie cutter picture of a Christian.

Jim said this in his journal:

2nd Timothy 2:9 says "The Word of God is not bound." Systematic theology- be careful how you tie down the word to fit your set and final creeds, systems, dogmas, and organized theistic philosophies! The Word of God is not bound! It's free to say what it will to the individual and no one can outline it into dispensations which cannot be broken. Don't get it doen "cold", but let it live - fresh, warm, and vibrant- so that the world is not binding ponderous books about it, but rather is shackling you for having allowed it to have freecourse in your life. That's the apostolic pattern....
The Great Calvinist - Armenian Paradox

I'm not going to get into the details of this theological debate. I consider myself an "Armenian" rather than a "Calvinist", but I also respect both viewpoints, and I think that sometimes, even though we seem to contradict each other, it's all a matter of how you see the same thing from another angle.

I have found few others who take this position, because most of the time, people want to argue and argue and debate and debate endlessly over which one is right on the issues of freewill and sovereignty.

I love Jim's position, which acknowledges the bit of a paradox. ...and those who are arguing about foreknowledge, election, and such: read those verses 14:26 and hen look how the apostle is willing to leave it a paradox. "God gives repentance" and "they recover themselves." Yes, I'm Naive, but I'm glad to be in such a case.

There's a lot more to discuss about Jim Elliot, so I hope to post the rest of my notes soon.