Inspiring and Challenging Quotes from the Letters and Journals of Jim Elliot

[From a handout distributed at the Sunday Bible Study of Grace Heritage Church, August 14, 2005.]

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

"God, I pray, light these idle sticks of my life, and may I burn up for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one like Yours, Lord Jesus." 

"The holy life of a fearless Samuel brought trembling to the elders of Bethlehem. Lord, wilt Thou impart a holiness of this sort to me? I can make men laugh; I cannot make them tremble." [re: 1 Sam 16:4] 

"Glad to get the opportunity to preach the gospel of the matchless grace of our God to stoical, pagan Indians. I only hope that He will let me preach to those who have never heard the name of Jesus. What else is worth-while in this life? I have heard nothing better. Lord, send me." 

"'He makes His ministers a flame of fire.' [re: Psa 104:4.] Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient: short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul: short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God's house consumed Him. 'Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.'" 

"My preaching [all] last month was service for service's sake. Oh, how I thank Thee, Father, for my earthly father [Jim's Dad, Fred Elliot] who has seen the truth as to [my] motives for service. It is not the winning of souls nor the spreading of missions that should inflame me. Paul said, 'I count all loss that I may win (not souls) but Christ.'" [re: Phil 3:8] 

"I dare not stay at home while Quechuas perish. What if the well-filled church in my homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers."