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When I think about total commitment, I think about a young missionary before the doors of China closed several years ago.  He was there and was very effective in reaching a number of people.  There was an oil company there that needed someone who was educated, who knew the language and who knew the people.  The executives of this oil company met late into the night and were trying to come up with the right person – they could not find the right person.  Finally, one of the men spoke up and said, “I know someone who is educated and knows the people and can also speak the language.”  They asked him who he was – that he seemed to be the man they were looking for.  He told them he was the missionary.  They decided to go see him and decided what they would pay him and everything.  So they went to see the missionary.  This missionary was making $1,200 a year – which is $100 a month.  They told him they wanted him to come with the company and they would pay him $1,200 a month!  The missionary said, “No, I won’t take it.”  Then they told the missionary they were prepared to pay him $2,400 a month – twice as much as he had been making a year.  He again told them he would not take it.  They then asked him what was wrong, was the salary not large enough?  He said, “Oh, the salary is big enough, but the job is not big enough.”  That is they way we need to look at the work we are engaged in for Jesus Christ.  God is looking for men of commitment.

Personal Evangelism, Volume 20, Number 4