God is all I need.
I don’t actually believe that, you know. Yes, I’ll gladly and glibly tell someone else to live their life believing this, but I certainly don’t apply it to my own. And this is probably why God keeps stripping away the things I call securities and reminding me of who He is. I don’t always appreciate going through this necessary process, but it always does me good in the end — it just takes me a while to admit it.
So, if you really want to know of someone who was applying this belief system to their life, I must direct your attention to James Chalmers.
The title of this article is a quote made by James to the London Missionary Society in the mid-1880s. When he said, “I will be your missionary”¹ he wasn’t looking at some cushy, cozy resort town with a great ambiance. Nor did the people he offered to minister amongst have a remarkable or peaceful civilization. Instead, he was looking at an island that had not yet been explored and he was speaking of a group of people who still lived as cannibals.
No, he didn’t have any romantic notions of missionary work and he didn’t have an alternate life course for when things got hard. He simply offered himself as a sacrifice expecting God to be all he needed.
And, he died a martyr’s death.
But I will have you know that his sacrificed life was used by God to open up the island nation of Papua New Guinea to the gospel. Today, dozens of missions are working with tribes spanning the coastline, interior, and islands of this unique locale.
And his work gave a couple of little girls from Kansas many wonderful friends and adventures.
Many people, including personal friends, have heard the gospel message because James Chalmers was willing to apply this Biblical principle of sacrifice. Because of his efforts to explore the island and befriend the natives, subsequent missionaries were able to minister there.
Would you like to know what he thought of difficulty and danger on the mission field? He called it “a little bit of pepper and salt to one’s life.”²
I’ve certainly never thought of difficulty and danger that way, but I’m challenged to do so now. I pray that I, like James Chalmers, can say “I will be your missionary.”¹
What say you?
¹Lennox, Cuthbert. James Chalmers of New Guinea. 1902. Location 1903 of 2611.
¹Ibid, Location 1892 of 2611.
