The Jim Elliot Kind of Foolishness

Ministerial Drink Offering

(2 Timothy 4:6-7)

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering,

Jesus of Nazareth poured out His life as the fulfillment of the Old Testament drink offering. He shed His blood in what must have seemed to many to be a wasted life and a pointless death. But His life and death were entirely offered up to the Father, and were acceptable in the sight of God.

As His followers, our desire is to give ourselves fully to Him. Just as those who are not filled with the Holy Spirit will not love the Word of God as the gold that it surely is, they will not see our lives as well spent. If we die for our faith, many will say, “What a waste of a life.” But we pour out our lives before God as a drink offering, and through Christ, this service is acceptable to the Father.

and the time of my departure has come.

I do not know the day of my departure, but there have been those who have known that their time left on this earth was brief. The apostle Paul was one of them, and so was the God/Man that he followed. When we leave here, it is not the end of our existence, but it is the completion of one very important phase of our lives. We will depart, and we will be with the Lord. All who have died in Christ up to the present day have had to face this moment.

Are you prepared for the time of your departure? Jesus was. You either find your preparation in Him, or you remain unprepared for the road ahead of you beyond this life.

7 I have fought the good fight,

But there is a way of living your life in Him, through Him, and with Him. This is the way to approach death with true peace. Your life on earth is a fight. You need to have the grace of God in you. Take in the Word, and let that Word be expressed through you. You need to fight the good fight.

I have finished the race,

There is a race to be running, and the finish line is swiftly approaching. Some are disqualified. They do not finish the race well. They become captive to other strange gods.

I have kept the faith.

What a blessing to be able to say with the apostle, “I have kept the faith.” Every life is a very high stakes proposition. None was more important than the life of our Savior. You want to come to your last supper with the confidence that comes from His Last Supper. You can offer up your body and blood to the Father with confidence because of the one who said, “This is my body,” and “This is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood.”

He kept the faith. He finished the race. He fought the good fight. Pour out the holy water of your life on the ground before the Lord in honor of His righteousness and blood. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot