Daily devotion – Stephen – a life well lived!
Faithful Unto Death
In 1948, missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal,
“I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.”
Just two years later he penned these sobering words:
“I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women.”
Last Sunday morning we considered the brief young life of Stephen, whose final breath was drawn in the will of God. Then, on January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot and his four missionary companions themselves were called to help “people Eternity,” killed by the very tribe they were seeking to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yet what followed stands as a powerful testimony to the Lord’s sovereign purposes. In the years after their deaths, many from that very people group turned to Christ. The old saying proved true again — the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
Scripture reminds us:
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
— Revelation 2:10
Faithfulness to Christ is not measured by length of days, but by surrender of heart. Some serve Him for decades, others for only a short season. But the call is the same for all — to live fully for Christ, to trust His purposes, and to remain faithful whatever the cost.
Today, may we not seek long lives for ourselves, but faithful ones. For the crown of life is not promised to the comfortable, but to the faithful.