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Adoniram Judson – A Man who “Lived Last”

I am ever thankful to how God works. As some of you know I’m on my “Reading Fast” (except for Scripture). My heart and spirit have been in a very quiet and listening posture over the last few days. It’s like I can finally “hear” His voice again. Not that I couldn’t before but just seems so much louder and clearer.  So the last few days I’ve been thinking abou some things…

-I’ve been thinking of James and John in Matthew chapter 20 and wanting to sit at God’s side and Jesus teaching all of them that the first will be last and vice versa.

-I’ve been thinking & praying about a young couple who are suffering and going through life’s cruel trials.

-This morning I was meditating on 1 Peter and the beautiful inheritance that is ours;yet we have many trials that we will need to endure and suffer through

-And I heard the story of Adoniram Judson for the first time this weekend.  A man who spent his entire life in Burma, lost 2 wives, 6 children and was only able to see approx 10 converts before his painfully slow death of TB. He truly “lived last”. He didn’t see the reward in this life. He truly followed what was called the “cause of Christ” at that time.  Just pause and let that sink in. Seriously was that worth it?

There are now 6 million Burmese who track their conversion lineage to Adoniram Judson.  AdoniramJudson was to Burma what Martin Luther was to Germany. The Burmese bible was translated by Adoniram as well as the first English Burmese dictionary.

So during this time of hearing clearly I feel like I have a clear life mantra.

Simply to Live Last.

Not ground breaking I know; and I’ve read Matthew 20 hundreds of times but for whatever reason it owns me now. I’m so thankful for that. Now that I’m meditating on it and really trying to intentionally live that out I realize how far I’m off. I don’t do this well at all, but am so thrilled and excited this morning…

I encourage you to think about Living Last today…intentionally lifting up others…is it difficult for you to live last?