THE ATHEIST QUOTE THAT INSPIRED A MISSIONARY

After C. T. Studd had committed his life to Jesus, he came across a tract written by an atheist that made a radical impact on his life. The tract read as follows:

Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought, and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labour in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of Eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand, nor seal my lips. Earth, its joys and its griefs, would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon Eternity alone, and on the Immortal Souls around me, soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Studd was convinced that this atheist did, in fact, describe “the truly consistent life,” but when he looked at his own life, he saw “how inconsistent it had been.” And so he determined that, “from that time forth my life should be consistent, and I set myself to know what was God’s will for me.”

Studd gave his life for the poor and lost on the mission field, dying in Africa after years of faithful service. It was Studd who wrote, "Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last."

Are you living in the light of eternity? As Leonard Ravenhill often asked, “Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?”