Investing Your Life Wisely
Gordon MacDonald
You cannot hold anyone accountable, and you cannot hold yourself accountable for growth, unless in advance you've determined your mission and goals and the criteria to measure them.
—Gordon MacDonald When I was in college, I participated in a campus ministry whose aim was the evangelization of the whole world. The audacity of the dream ignited new passion within my personal faith, and for that I'm grateful. But sometimes I suspect the motivational approaches went a bit too far. One day, for example, a staff member read us a story from the biography of C. T. Studd, one of the great English missionary pioneers of the nineteenth century. We'd all come to revere Studd as one who gave up everything—including a great sports career —to evangelize the nations. We listened intently for further insights that would enable us to imitate this man and his faith. As I recall, Studd went off to Africa and remained there seventeen years without seeing his English homeland. He never saw his wife, either, since she remained in England to assist the supporting mission organization. For reasons I cannot fathom now, we assumed this willingness to accept marital separation was admirable, the epitome of commitment. Now here's the story we heard that day: Studd's wife eventually came to Africa, but only because it seemed prudent for her—get this—to visit the various mission outposts. So her husband's mission station became part of the itinerary. As I remember the story, she came up a river by boat to the place where Studd was living. He met her and walked her to the front porch of his house. There they stayed for thirty or so minutes, visiting about the progress of "winning the lost" and then having a time of prayer. Then she returned to her boat and ...
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