Utterly life-altering.
This is, without question, the most powerful missionary biography I have ever read. John G. Paton's story didn’t just inspire me — it shook me. Page after page, I found myself gripped, convicted, broken in spirit, and ultimately driven to deeper prayer and bolder evangelism.
To read of Paton’s life among the cannibal tribes of the New Hebrides is to witness a man who counted nothing too dear for the sake of Christ. He embodied the words of Jesus in Matthew 16, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." His life was constantly under threat — yet he remained. His wife and baby boy died within months of arriving at Tanna. He poured out his love on people who hated him, gave up every earthly comfort without a second thought, and endured staggering losses — including the mission ship he spent a decade fundraising for, which was wrecked after only four voyages. And yet he persevered. Joyfully.
As I read, I was undone. His suffering exposed my own half-hearted love for my Saviour. How often do I shrink back from discomfort, while this man pressed forward into danger for the glory of God? His story made me feel ashamed of my life — yet hopeful that I can, by God's grace live a fruitful life for Christ.
Near the end of his life, Paton penned these breathtaking words:
"...as I lay down my pen, let me record my immovable conviction that this is the noblest service in which any human being can spend or be spent; and that, if God gave me back my life to be lived over again, I would without one quiver of hesitation lay it on the altar to Christ, that He might use it as before in similar ministries of love, especially amongst those who have never yet heard the Name of Jesus... God gave His best, His Son, to me; and I give back my best, my All, to Him." (p. 444)
But perhaps the quote that impacted me most was this:
"My peace came back to me like a wave from God. I realised that I was immortal till my Master's work with me was done. The assurance came to me, as if a voice out of Heaven had spoken, that not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing stone the fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ, whose is all power in Heaven and on Earth." (p. 205)
What confidence. What surrender. What faith.
This is the story of a sinner, saved by grace, who gave his all to make Christ known — and through whom God brought salvation to entire islands.
I close the book, praying:
Lord, raise up more men like Paton! For Your glory and to the praise Your Son alone!