A Retrospect: The Story Behind My Zeal for Missions

by James Hudson Taylor

It is always helpful to us to fix our attention on the God-ward aspect of Christian work – to realize that the work of God does not mean so much man’s work for God as God’s own work through man.

With God all things are possible, and no conversion ever takes place save by the almighty power of the Holy Ghost. The great need, therefore, of every Christian worker is to know God. Indeed, this is the purpose for which He has given us eternal life, as our Savior Himself says in the often-misquoted verse, John 17:3: And this is [the object of] life eternal, [not to know but] that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we would see the results we desire more frequently. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our own feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things may be the true cause of our lack of success.