Excerpt from Shadow of the Almighty

by Elizabeth Elliot

         Jim [Elliot]'s aim was to know God. His course, obedience--the only course that could lead to the fulfillment of his aim. His end was what some would call an extraordinary death, although in facing death, he had quietly pointed out that many have died out of obedience to God.

          He [Jim Elliot] and the other men with whom he died were hailed as heroes, "martyrs." I do not approve. Nor would they have approved.

          Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him, after all, so great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first? Furthermore, to live for God is to die, "daily," as the apostle Paul put it. It is to lose everything that we may gain Christ. It is in thus laying down our lives that we may find them.