Sometimes we simply do not appreciate people the way we should.

For example, widows and widowers will tell me they didn’t realize how much their deceased spouse did around the house or helping to keep up the property. They also mention how they simply miss the little things of life.

It seems to be a fact of life that we take people for granted.

That’s the way I think of Stephen in the Book of Acts. What a great man he was. I recently wrote a post about Stephen called the Greatest Christian You Can’t Name. You can link to it here.

Stephen served behind the scenes and when called upon preached the Gospel and died because ot it. Stephen’s epitaph should be that of every Christian: “Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him” (Acts 6:2).

While we are not all to physically die for Christ, we are called to live for Him. God does not call all of us to be martyrs, but he does call all of us to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). Warren Wiersbe notes that it may be harder to live for Christ than to die for Him. He also shows that if we are living for Christ, we will also be prepared to die for Him.

God calls many people to be His martyrs. One such man was Jim Elliot. In 1948, he and a small group went to South America to minister to the Auca Indians, a very violent tribe.

Jim Elliot kept a journal in which he recorded many profound statements taken from his life with Christ. I keep one of those on my desk: “When it comes time to die, be very sure that all you have to do is die.” In other words, make sure you live at peace with all and that you have said what you need to say to the people you love. He is best remembered for saying: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

He also wrote: “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.” In 1950 he wrote: “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.”

January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot and four of his fellow missionaries were called to people eternity. Like Stephen, they were killed by the very people they sought to reach.

Life Magazine, one of the most popular magazines of that era published a cover story about their sacrifice. Shortly thereafter, the chief of the killers came to Christ. Since then many Aucas have come to know the Lord.

Stephen and Jim Elliot and thousands of others who have lived and died for Christ should not be forgotten. The writer of Hebrews said that these were people of whom the world is not worthy (Hebrews 12:38).

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