3 Great Women Missionaries
3 Great Women Missionaries
“And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.” Mar 14:6
There were 3 women, who at the turn of the 19th Century, were missionaries, and whose courage and zeal for Jesus Christ, far surpasses mine!
Mary Slessor who worked in Nigeria from 1876 until 1915, when she died in Africa.
Lilias Trotter who worked in Algiers from 1887 until 1928, when she died in Algiers.
Amy Carmichael who worked in India from 1901 until 1951, when she died in India.
All three (3) where single British women.
Right away the question of the “rightness” of single women being missionaries comes to the fore front: Is it right, is it biblical for single women to be missionaries?
Many will say, “It is not the best, but if the men will not go, then let the women go,” and they appeal to Deborah and Barak.
I am not going to address that issue, except to say that even though there are women listed in Heb 11, Deborah is not named, only Barak is.
Regarding these 3 women, do I agree with all of their doctrinal positions? No. Do I do missionary work as they did? No. Yet as I read their biographies, I was thoroughly inspired and humbled by each one.
Where they perfect? No! Where they great? Yes!
As George Whitefield said about Charles Wesley, with whom he disagreed upon several very important doctrines (Election and Perfectionism, being 2), when asked if he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield said, “No, he will be much closer to the Throne than I.”
I would say the same about these three (3) mighty women of God; they were far more courageous, zealous, and indefatigable than I; their crowns must be huge!
Biographies of Mary Slessor:
There are several, the one I think I read is “Mary Slessor of Calabar” by W.P. Livingstone.
https://archive.org/details/maryslessorofcal00liviuoft/maryslessorofcal00liviuoft/
Biographies of Lilias Trotter:
There are several, the one I read is “A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter” by Miriam Huffman Rockness.
She also wrote several books/tracts on doing gospel work in the Muslim world, which given her long years of service, living in a Muslim community, are well worth reading.
Biographies of Amy Carmichael:
There are several, but the only one worth reading is: “A Chance to Die” by Elizabeth Elliot. The title tells it all!
We who call ourselves Christians, should we not each look at our life as a “chance to die” for Jesus; he died for us, should we not give our life to him? Did not Jesus say, “he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it?” In fact he said it on two separate occasions: Mat 10:39 and Mat 16:25.
There was a John Wayne movie made in 1945 about rescuing General MacArthur from behind the enemy lines in the Philippines. The title is “They Were Expendable”; the sailors who were sent to rescue MacArthur were not as valuable as MacArthur; they were expendable, he was not.
Christian brother, Christian sister, the universe does not revolve around us! The establishment of Jesus gospel kingdom is more important than the establishment of our kingdoms!
We are expendable!
These 3 women did what they could; they are like the woman who poured the oil on Jesus head (Mrk 14:3-9), whom while people rebuked, Jesus highly commended.
Now is our time to labor for Christ; we have been given “talents,” opportunities to extend his kingdom; see my Blog “Faithfulness with the gifts God has entrusted to us”.
Do we look at our lives as “A Chance to Die” for Jesus?
When old age sets in, and it is too late, will you look back with regret, and say, “Too Late”? “Too Late” are terrible words.
Truly, only what is done for Christ will last.
These 3 women are great examples of this mindset.
6 September 2024