December 29: "Cannot the love of Christ," he asked, "carry the missionary where the slave trade carries the trader?" (David Livingstone, missionary to Africa)
“Now compelled by the Spirit I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there I only know that in every city the holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships await me.” Act 20:22-23
I don’t recommend reading the biographies of missionaries unless you want to be convicted of the smallness of your faith and the lagging zeal you have for Christ. But if you desire to be convicted of how much you still need to grow in godliness and holiness then by all means pick up a good biography and read away.
For the past two weeks we have been considering the lives of those who have set the path for us over the last two thousand years of missionary endeavors. Today I want to consider with you for a brief moment the life of one such missionary, David Livingstone.
As a young man he had chanced upon the service where Robert Moffatt, the great missionary to Africa, was speaking and heard him utter these words, "I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been."
It would be these words that would compel a young doctor to leave everything behind and go to the dark continent of Africa to carry the message of Christ. He would suffer great discomforts and face grueling hardships for almost forty years on the African continent as he sought to carry the message of Christ to those villages where the gospel had never gone He would face lions that would tear his shoulder out of joint and leave his one arm almost paralyzed for the rest of his life. He would face the challenges of leaving to return to the comforts of England when circumstances would tell him that he was finished. He would lose the wife he loved to tropical disease eleven years before he would meet her in glory. He would see his children leave Africa and not see them for many years due to the rigors of his missionary endeavors and he would experience the ridicule of those who were at first his best supporters. He would travel through places where deadly pestilence was rampant, and eventually he would die on the soil he came to reclaim for his Savior.
When asked why he followed Christ into such hard and difficult places his only answer was "Cannot the love of Christ," he asked, "carry the missionary where the slave trade carries the trader?"
I leave you with this quote for your consideration today. We live in a nation that has more freedom to share the gospel than any other nation at any other time in history. I wonder how we shall fare when we stand next to these our brothers and sisters who have gone before us at that great day when we shall all stand before our Lord to receive the rewards for our labors. I can almost hear the questions of these who have gone to the hard and the difficult places, “Tell me, with such freedom surely you told everyone you saw about the glories of our great God! Surely you spoke often of his magnificent grace to all who came your way. Surely there were many who heard from your lips and life of his redeeming love. Surely you have some scars to show for your labors here below.
I can almost see Doctor Livingstone revealing the scars on his shoulders and scarred feet of his as he walked across deserts that left his feet burned and scarred because he loved his Savior so much and he loved the lost to whom he was sent as well. I wonder what scars we shall have to show for our love for the Savior, I wonder what names we can speak of that we shared our Lord with.
Should we not begin our day each day with these words, “O Love of Christ, carry the feet of this missionary to the places where the Drugs flow free and the terrorists run with boldness and the unbelievers are enslaved. Carry the feet of this missionary to those who do not yet know of the redeeming love that I have so richly been given.”
Let us set our course again for the hard places of our occupations and our neighborhoods and our cities and villages. Let us labor as Livingstone did until our Savior comes for us.
Following the path of those who have gone before us,
Pastor Phil
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