If I had to choose one missionary whose life and writing has had the greatest impact on my life, it would without hesitation be Elisabeth Elliot. Her life and writing never ceases to convict, humble, move to tears, grow passion, and encourage. Continually having chosen passion over passivity and surrender over self-assertion, her life reflected a heart deeply rooted in love for Christ. Her passion to bring the gospel to the nations governed her response to the deepest valleys of suffering. Amidst a confused world, Elisabeth Elliot remained a voice advocating for Biblical womanhood. For where the world values self-assertion, she advocated for the beauty of submission. Her desire for the gospel to reach the lost overshadowed any desire for comfort. Living in a society drowning in the pursuit of happiness, her example is a breath of fresh air of the Christian’s joy in self-denial. Not merely in words, but in action, she passionately desired furthering the gospel over all else. Through her life, I am reminded that if we truly believe the gospel to be best gift ever received, then it has to be the foundation on which we build every aspect of our lives upon.
A Gospel Transformed Life
In 1956, Elisabeth Elliot’s husband, Jim Elliot, and four other missionaries (Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian) were martyred by a tribe in Ecuador. The very following year, Elisabeth wrote, Through Gates of Splendor, telling the story of their martyrdom. In 1958, she learned the language of the people of that very tribe, took her daughter with her, and returned to Ecuador with Rachel Saint (Nate Saint’s sister), bringing the gospel to the very people who killed her husband.
How can one explain or make sense of Elisabeth’s response to her husband’s martyrdom? Her actions reflect a life deeply transformed by the gospel. She knew the call of the Christian to further the gospel is to be viewed as more precious than life itself. Only a life deeply transformed by and surrendered to Christ can love the lost with such genuine conviction. Her beautiful response to her circumstances reflects the height of her passion for missions, and the depth of her love for the Lord. We don’t just wake up one day willing to surrender the entirety of our lives to the furthering of the gospel. Her response evidences a lifestyle of continually and deeply surrendering all to the Lord’s will. She knew that her life was not her own but was to be lived for the Lord. And she never hesitated to live out the command to deny ourselves for Christ.
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35).
Her life shows us that the cultivation of Gospel-centered passion shatters the treasuring of convenience. She was willing to live out the words she penned, “there is nothing worth living for unless it is worth dying for,” when she went back to reach the very people who martyred Jim. Her life is a testament of deep love for the lost and a deep desire for the gospel to reach the unreached; something for every Christian to admire and mirror. In the foreword to Elisabeth’s book, Suffering Is Never For Nothing, Joni Eareckson Tada beautifully articulates the lasting impact of Elisabeth’s ministry as such:
“For centuries we’ve heard that the ‘Blood of martyrs is the seed of the church,’ and the blood of Jim Elliot certainly overflowed the ink wells into which Elisabeth dipped her pen. She gave us invigorating martyr-words that inspired generations of courageous missionaries to take the gospel into foreboding jungles, deserts, and cities great and small. She also gave those same words to inspire us. Especially when suffering hit us broadside.”
A Voice for Biblical Womanhood
One of my favorite books of Elisabeth’s is, Let Me Be A Woman. Here, she beautifully articulates Biblical womanhood. In a confused culture, Elisabeth’s writing reminds of what it means to be a woman. Remarkably advocating for the beauty of complementarianism, she wonderfully describes the distinct gift of God’s design for womanhood. Elisabeth encourages women to see the beauty of the limitations of womanhood not as an obstacle to overcome but a blessing to embrace. She knew that God’s design for womanhood is a distinct gift. She beautifully says, “the woman who accepts the limitations of womanhood finds in those very limitations her gifts.” Her words on womanhood speaks volumes, as they parallel beautifully with the way she lived her life. She truly pursued a lifestyle characterized by a gentle and quiet spirit, striving to live consistent with God’s design for her as a Christian woman.
Elisabeth’s writing was always countercultural. She passionately argued against the lies of feminism and rather advocated for the pursuit of Biblical femininity. According to Elisabeth, “It is a naive sort of feminism that insists that women prove their ability to do all the things that men do. This is a distortion and a travesty. Men have never sought to prove that they can do all the things women do. Why subject women to purely masculine criteria? Women can and ought to be judged by the criteria of femininity, for it is in their femininity that they participate in the human race. And femininity has its limitations.”
A Biblical Response to Suffering
Elisabeth’s life and writing serve as a convicting and encouraging example of a Biblical response to suffering. Amidst the most difficult of trials, her joy was rooted in the hope of the gospel. Knowing that the Lord is sovereign over every aspect of her life, she faced trials with joy.
In her book, Suffering Is Never For Nothing, she says, “The deepest things that I have learned in my own life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things that I know about God.”
Elisabeth knew that suffering is to be viewed in light of what it produces in us.
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2-5).
A Lasting Impact
Several people in the tribe where Elisabeth returned came to know the Lord. Elisabeth’s life impacted not only the people of the tribe she returned to but continues to influence many today. I have deep admiration for her, and I pray that I would mirror the passion and conviction with which she lived her life. I’ll look forward to meeting her one day in eternity and thanking her, but until then, her writing will always have a special place on my bookshelf and in my heart.
