Nothin’ Like a Good Missionary Biography

May 30, 2009 – 10:06 am

I always enjoy a good book before my eyelids meet at night. I like classic novels, creative non-fiction works, and theology books for seminary, but I especially crave a good biography. Biographies lift you out of your narrow, self-absorbed world and place you in the midst of another person’s struggles, joys, and meditations.

Of all the biographies I have read, few grip my attention like missionary biographies. Nowhere else can you learn of such perilous sacrifice for such little earthly reward. They are clearly driven by a higher motivation, to be exact a higher Motivator.

One such risk-taker was John Paton. For those who aren’t familiar with his story,

Rev. Dr. John Gibson Paton (May 24 1824 - January 28 1907), born in Scotland, was a Protestant missionary to the New Hebrides Islands of the South Pacific. Paton undertook a tremendous work which would yield little fruit for decades, convinced of the absolute sovereignty of God to build his church.

Constantly under threat of death, Paton preached faithfully to the islands of the New Hebrides, raising a family there. As well as his missionary journeys, Paton raised great support for world missions at home in Scotland and inspired hundreds of missionaries to also take up the Great Commission and make disciples of all nations.

Read entire wikipedia bio and also his Wholesome Words bio.

My favorite Paton quote sums up his  gospel abandonment:

Almost everyone thought it was very foolish for a promising young man to go to live among the cruel and uncivilized natives of the islands of the South Pacific. One old man exclaimed, “The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!”

“Mr. Dixon,” replied the young missionary appointee, “you are advanced in years now and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether my body is eaten by cannibals or by worms.”

John Gibson Paton

My wife is currently reading the Banner of Truth edition of Paton’s biography. She says she can hardly put it down. (One of her recent birthday presents. It’s great to have a wife that loves books almost as much as me…as much as I love books, that is!)

Add a couple of missionary biographies to your summer reading list and be challenged to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).  And keep in mind this quote from John Piper on how to read books:

I [do not] want to leave the impression that reading many books is important. Reading great books and reading them well is what is important. Meditative reading, reading which stops and ponders, reading which sees deep into reality - that is the kind of reading which profits.

That kind of reading should never end for you. Growth and stimulation and transformation will never end for you. You will be in the company of the greatest minds and hearts for the rest of your life, and you will become their peers if you read for understanding and for life.