In his autobiography, Hudson Taylor tells a story of laboring as a medical missionary in China, being charged with the daily responsibility to dress the gangrened foot of an atheist patient. The condition left the man with little time to live and Taylor was immediately burdened for the man's soul far more than his physical health. The man had a violent temper and angrily resisted prayer and Scripture from a variety of care givers but Taylor silently prayed for him in those early days while tenderly caring for his diseased body. Day after day, Taylor recalls, he pleaded with God, by His Spirit, to save the man. As he grew the courage to speak an occasional word about the Lord, the patient would physically turn away and refuse to listen or respond.
Resigning himself to the man's hardness of heart, on the first day that Taylor finished dressing the wound and went to leave without sitting by the bed to pray silently. From the door Taylor turned and saw the visible surprise on the patient's face and God's servant broke down in tears and began to beg the man for permission to pray with him and for him. Because he was so distressed, his patient relented in order to bring him relief. Hudson Taylor prayed out loud for that man every day following up to and even beyond His coming to faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
This patient had not darkened the door of a church or religious service for over four decades, including on the occasion of his own wife's memorial. He ultimately lived through the gangrene and bore faithful witness to the grace of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Taylor reflected on this man's transformation with this poignant challenge for any of us who want to see the power of God to save souls, but lack the corresponding passion to play our part in that work:
"Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts, and our own feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things, may be the true cause of our want of success" (Hudson Taylor, The Autobiography of Hudson Taylor: Missionary to China).May God break our hearts for those who are alienated from God. May he bring us to tears over the lostness of our family, friends, and neighbors. And in echoing Paul's prayer from Philemon, may "the sharing of your faith become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ."(Phil. 1:6)
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