What's Your Motivation?
When a young Scottish woman, named Mary Slessor, discovered the need for missionaries in Africa, she excitedly signed up. Mary had often heard stories of abandoned children, cannibalism, slave markets, and more; so she deeply desired to see the light of Christ penetrate that dark place.
In 1876, at the age of twenty-eight, she set sail for West Africa. On arrival, coming off the docks, she caught sight of the cages where slaves were kept before being loaded onto ships. Inland, she watched as people were beheaded and eaten, babies thrown on ant hills left to die, and women treated like property to be tossed around and used. Seeing such things might have scared off lesser people, but it just increased Mary’s motivation to see Christ at work.
She pressed further inland, even after being warned that doing so would mean certain death. Instead of getting death, however, Mary gave life--life through Jesus Christ. She rescued scores of babies thrown out into the forest, prevented many wars, and tirelessly told Africans about the great God of love. In the process, hundreds of villages were transformed by the gospel.
Mary’s life proves that anyone can be a hero when properly motivated.
How motivated are you to see people give their lives to Christ and experience eternal life?
