Lessons From J. Hudson Taylor’s Life
Lessons From J. Hudson Taylor’s Life
Hudson Taylor’s life reminds one of Jeremiah the prophet: “I was separated from my mother’s womb.” And his conversion was like everything else in his life, a monument to the power of prayer. Before Hudson Taylor was born his parents prayed for him. But as he grew in his life he did not follow the “Christian way.” However, at sixteen years old, as his mother lay, pleading with God to save her son, Hudson Taylor was saved by God’s grace. From that time on Hudson Taylor became a man who lived and breathed “he must move men through God- by prayer.” From what he did at the age of nineteen, to the end of his life, Hudson Taylor lived the promise in John 14:3 “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
There are four primary areas in which Hudson Taylor’s life is an example to all Christians. The first has to be Hudson Taylor’s desire of getting closer to God. As one studies Hudson’s life one finds instances like: his deepest desire was to have the unfailing presence of His Lord. At one point Hudson Taylor became very dissatisfied with his spiritual life and viewed himself as a cracked cistern. He was convinced that there was a deeper experience of Divine fullness. He yearned for a life characterized by the filling of the Holy Spirit, unbroken fellowship with his Lord, peace in the storm, joy in adversity, and a holy life. On this point Hudson Taylor concluded that no matter how difficult his service, how sad his bereavement, how helpless he was, Jesus could meet all his needs. And there Hudson Taylor rested.
A second area that was extremely important was that of preparation. When Hudson Taylor knew where God called him, he began to strenuously prepare for that field. He performed more exercise. He exchanged his regular bed for a hard mattress.
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And he began to study the gospel of Luke in the Mandarin language and study Chinese. Hudson also began to study medicine. He obtained a job as an assistant for a doctor. He moved to Drainside, a poverty stricken area of England, to accustom himself to something of the loneliness and dangers of living in a strange land where only God would be his companion. An illustration serves...