In the final chapter of his book The Unoccupied Fields of Africa and Asia, entitled The Glory of the Impossible, Samuel Zwemer (nicknamed the Apostle to Islam) quotes P.T. Forsyth speaking of “the inverted homesickness” – “in which missionaries unlearn the love of the old home, die to their native land, and wed their hearts to the people they have served and won; so that they cannot rest in (the country where they were born), but must return to lay their bones where they spent their hearts for Christ.”
Commenting on this “inverted homesickness,” Zwemer says, “James Gilmour in Mongolia, David Livingstone in Central Africa, Grenfell in the Congo, Keith Falconer in Arabia, Dr. Rijnhart and Miss Annie Taylor in Tibet, Chalmers in New Guinea, Morrison in China, Henry Martyn in Persia, and all the others like them had this ‘inverted homesickness,’ this passion to call that country their home which was most in need of the Gospel. In this passion all other passions died; before this vision all other visions faded; this call drowned all other voices.”
To which people have I wed my heart? Where do I spend my heart for Christ? Have all my other passions died in the face of this passion to call my home the place (or the people) most in need of the gospel? Do all of my other visions fade before this vision to win the unreached? Does the call of God to take the love of Jesus to those who have yet to hear His name drown out all the other voices which clamor for my attention?
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