Day Six: A True Saint (Mark 2:1-5)
Devotional: There are many inspiring true stories of commitment to Christ from the mission field. A well known story is of the five missionaries who tried to bring the gospel to the Huaorani people in the rain forest of Ecuador. After two months of contact with them, on January 8, 1956, they met on a sandbar along the Curary River to share Jesus. Instead, all five missionaries- Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian- were attacked and speared to death by the Huaorani warriors.
The news of their death was broadcast around the world, and Life magazine covered the event. The deaths of these men galvanized the missionary effort in the United States, leading to an outpouring of funding for evangelism around the world. While this story still inspires today, perhaps the lesser known part of the story is the real inspiration. It’s the story of Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel Saint, who also was serving as a missionary in Ecuador.
To people’s utter surprise, and criticism from some, she refused to leave the mission and continued to reach the Huaorani people with the gospel. She eventually lived among them, and many in the village gave their lives to Christ, including some of the men who had killed her brother and the other four missionaries. One of the killers that day in January was Mincaye. He became a follower of Christ and would eventually “adopt” Steve, the son of Nate Saint.
Rachel Saint never married, instead she gave her entire life to loving and serving the very people who killed her brother. She spent over 30 years with them until she succumbed to cancer in 1994. Many years after her brothers death, Rachel fulfilled the missionaries dream of establishing a Christian community among the unreached people of the Amazon rain forest.
Her life begs the questions… How far would we go to bring the hope and healing of Jesus to people? In today’s passage, we see four friends who were going to do whatever it took for their paralytic buddy to find the hope and healing of Jesus. And their commitment did not go unnoticed with Jesus. In v. 5 it says, “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ’Son, your sins are forgiven.’”
What an incredible story. Jesus doesn’t just heal him, He restores his very soul! And part of the motivation was the faith of the friends. Who in our lives need the hope and healing of Jesus? How far are we willing to go to bring them to Jesus?
Prayer: Spend time asking God what sacrifices need to be made to help bring people in your life to Jesus. Has God put one particular person on your heart? Pray specifically for that person this week.
Devotional: There are many inspiring true stories of commitment to Christ from the mission field. A well known story is of the five missionaries who tried to bring the gospel to the Huaorani people in the rain forest of Ecuador. After two months of contact with them, on January 8, 1956, they met on a sandbar along the Curary River to share Jesus. Instead, all five missionaries- Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian- were attacked and speared to death by the Huaorani warriors.
The news of their death was broadcast around the world, and Life magazine covered the event. The deaths of these men galvanized the missionary effort in the United States, leading to an outpouring of funding for evangelism around the world. While this story still inspires today, perhaps the lesser known part of the story is the real inspiration. It’s the story of Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel Saint, who also was serving as a missionary in Ecuador.
To people’s utter surprise, and criticism from some, she refused to leave the mission and continued to reach the Huaorani people with the gospel. She eventually lived among them, and many in the village gave their lives to Christ, including some of the men who had killed her brother and the other four missionaries. One of the killers that day in January was Mincaye. He became a follower of Christ and would eventually “adopt” Steve, the son of Nate Saint.
Rachel Saint never married, instead she gave her entire life to loving and serving the very people who killed her brother. She spent over 30 years with them until she succumbed to cancer in 1994. Many years after her brothers death, Rachel fulfilled the missionaries dream of establishing a Christian community among the unreached people of the Amazon rain forest.
Her life begs the questions… How far would we go to bring the hope and healing of Jesus to people? In today’s passage, we see four friends who were going to do whatever it took for their paralytic buddy to find the hope and healing of Jesus. And their commitment did not go unnoticed with Jesus. In v. 5 it says, “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ’Son, your sins are forgiven.’”
What an incredible story. Jesus doesn’t just heal him, He restores his very soul! And part of the motivation was the faith of the friends. Who in our lives need the hope and healing of Jesus? How far are we willing to go to bring them to Jesus?
Prayer: Spend time asking God what sacrifices need to be made to help bring people in your life to Jesus. Has God put one particular person on your heart? Pray specifically for that person this week.
Posted in Come Follow Me