Jim Elliot, martyr, 1928-1956

He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot

This can be found in the October 28, 1949 entry on page 174 (Chapter 4) of the 1978 hardback edition of the Journal and on page 108 (Chapter 11) of the 1958 hardback edition of Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot. The quote is also used in the prologue of Shadow on page 15.

Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming, were missionaries to the Auca Indians in Equador, South America. Elliot was 28 when he, and the other four men were killed by the Auca Indians in January, 1956.

"[He makes] His ministers a flame of fire," Elliot wrote while a student at Wheaton College. "Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this my soul—short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God's house consumed Him."

Jim Elliot also wrote, “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

Oh God! Deliver me as well from the "dread asbestos of 'other things.'" All is rubbish in comparison with You.