An Extraordinary God

Jim Elliott is one of the most famous missionaries ever to live...and die for the sake of the gospel. No doubt, it is the writing of his loving wife that has allowed Jim to live on far beyond his death in the memories of Christians and others who continue to be influenced by this wise and faithful martyr for the faith.

Today I read a quote from his journal that nearly stopped me in my tracks:

Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.

No doubt that the faith of Jim Elliott is what pushed him forward to being such a strong force for the gospel message. Tertullian once said, the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church. Tertullian was right, but it is the faith of the living that makes so valuable the blood of the dead. May we all be found to have living faith...faith that will live on beyond us just as the faith of Jim Elliott, and so many other missionaries, lives on in perpetuity.

We serve an extraordinary God who chose to inhabit ordinary flesh and die for ordinary sinners so that we might experience extraordinary life in him. Shouldn't we strive to have extraordinary faith?