What is the secret to such a surrendered life given to God as exhibited by Jim Elliot? He had many interests, but only one passion. He loved sports, but he worshiped Jesus, not a sports team. He had an interest in the opposite sex, and ultimately married a godly young lady named Elisabeth; yet his deepest affections were for his Lord. He pursued his degree with all diligence, and even seemed to love studying Greek! But all these paled in comparison to his love for Jesus. You see, you can have many interests, but only one passion. You can have numerous commitments, but you can only surrender to One. You can enjoy several interests, but that one thing you abandon yourself to is your God.

Elliot graduated from Wheaton College in 1949. During his senior year, he wrote: "He is no fool to give that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Those words would be prophetic; seven years later, only in his twenties, he would give his earthly life for his eternal reward.

By his sophomore year at Wheaton, still a teenager, Jim became convinced that God was directing his life toward South America. In the summer following his junior year he wrote: "Glad to get the opportunity to preach the Gospel of the matchless grace of our God to stoical, pagan Indians. I only hope that He will let me preach to those who have never heard that name Jesus. What else is better in this life? I have heard of nothing better. 'Lord, send me!'"

Don't misunderstand--Jim Elliot was not some bizarre character who fit in so poorly with his peers that he felt the need to escape to a foreign land. No, he was a champion wrestler, honor student, amateur poet, and was warmly admired by students at Wheaton. He was the BMOC, Big Man on Campus. If you think people who become preachers or missionaries are the nerds or outcasts, think again.

By the end of 1950, Jim began to sense the leadership of God to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. This primitive, hardly known tribe had been unreached despite other missionary efforts. They were so ruthless, even other Indian tribes steered clear of them. Missionaries, rubber trade workers, and Shell Oil employees were some of the many killed by the Aucas. They were known by those who knew something of them as killers.

The words of Jim Elliot reflect his passion: "We are still utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a power the 20th-century does not reckon with. But we are harmless, and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual passivists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle to the death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brash, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the cross. The world cannot hate us, we're too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!"

Pete Fleming, one of the four men who would die with Jim Elliot in an effort to win the Aucas to Jesus, wrote: "It is a grave and solemn problem; an unreachable people who murder and kill with extreme hatred. It comes to me strongly that God is leading me to do something about it, and a strong idea and impression comes into my mind that I ought to devote the majority of my time to collecting linguistic data on the tribe and making some intensive air surveys to look for Auca houses…I know that this may be the most important decision of my life, but I have a quiet peace about it."

One of the ways God helped Jim Elliot to develop such powerful faith was through the discipline of keeping a journal. Do you keep a daily spiritual journal? Countless believers have found this to be a great aid in their walk with Christ. Elliot's journals show an amazing depth of focus on the study of Scripture.

Listen to some of Elliot's journal entries:

"July 7, 1948, Psalm 104. Psalm 104:4: 'He makes His ministers a flame of fire.' Am I ignitible? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul, a short life?"

This entry, written years before his death at the hands of the Aucas, demonstrated that Elliot was actually dead long before the spears pierced him. He had died to self long before.

"January 31, 1949, [senior year in college] Jeremiah 25, 26 - Evening. One does not surrender a life in an instant. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime."

"November 18, 1949, Just finished Under a Thatched Roof by Rosemary Cunningham, the story of a five-year term on the Xingo River of Brazil. Stirred for pioneer work again, like the feeling I had on finishing [James] McNair's Livingstone the Liberator a couple years ago. O God, raise up a vanguard of young men to reach the untouched, the untouchables!"

This entry reveals Elliot's growing conviction that God had called him to reach those who had never been reached for the Gospel.

In the summer of 1950, Elliot took a course in descriptive linguistics at the University of Oklahoma. This course would help him to work with South American tribes with no written language. By this time, he was convinced God had called him to go to Ecuador.

"January 4 … I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those I should have kept on earth til they were older. God is peopling eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women."

This journal entry shows Elliot's eternal perspective.

"January 16, 1950 - Deserted all morning. Much time on my knees but no fervency or any desire for prayer."

This entry shows that Elliot, though possessing an unusual passion for God, had struggles in his devotion to the Lord as we all do.

Jim Elliot and four young companions, all in their twenties, journeyed to Ecuador to meet the Auca Indians. There they died. The Aucas attacked them, killing them with spears. The young missionaries had guns with them, but refused to shoot. They did not reach the Indians, but amazingly, their widows later came to Ecuador and reached the entire tribe for the Gospel!

Years later, a young man traveling in Ecuador flew in a small plane over the country. The pilot knew of Jim Elliot's ministry.

"When we fly over the place where Jim Elliot and the others died, show me," the man said to the pilot.

"I can't take you there," replied the pilot.

"Why not?"

"Because Jim Elliot did not die in Ecuador."

Perplexed, the young man remarked, "Yes, I know Jim Elliot died here in Ecuador."

"Jim Elliot's body expired in this life," the pilot said, "But Jim Elliot died while a college student at Wheaton College several years before. He yielded his life to God then, no matter the consequences."

You see, for Jim Elliot, the step from this life to the life beyond was a little one, because he walked so close to Jesus.