have much artwork in our house. Money
was tight, and our family got along with
just the basics of life. Knicknacks, frills,
and family photos were not to be found
in our simple home. But there was one
plaque on the wall I have never forgotten.
It was a short poem:
Only one life
’Twill soon be past
Only what’s done
For Christ will last.
In my teen years and for quite a few
years into my adulthood, the words of
that poem stirred up guilt inside me
whenever I remembered them. Assuming
that “what’s done for Christ” meant work
done as a pastor with his flock, as an
evangelist on the street corner, or as a
missionary to remote tribes in Africa, I
felt defeated because I knew those were
things I could not do. Not until my late
thirties did I discover the joy of giving
to God’s work and come to realize its
lasting value.
Until recently, I had no idea that those
lines were actually part of a longer poem
with a very interesting story. It was
written by the son of a wealthy British
family, Charles Thomas (C. T.) Studd, who
lived from 1860 to 1931. His father had
made a fortune producing indigo dye in
India. Charles and his brothers attended
the best schools England could offer,
first Eaton and then Cambridge, where
Charles became, as some have called
him, the Michael Jordan of cricket.
Charles represented his country on
the national cricket team and became
a household name in Britain. He knew
28 • Solutions
that when he turned twenty-five years
old, he would inherit a large sum—some
$25 million in today’s dollars—from his
father’s estate.
“
Live your life in this
world while investing
your wealth in the next.”
Yet by that time, God had touched
his heart and called him to service
overseas. He started out in China,
where he married a young Irish woman
of like mind. Together, they gave away
their entire portion of the Studd fortune
to such ministries as George Müller’s
orphanage, D. L. Moody’s Bible school in
Chicago, the China Inland Mission, and
the Salvation Army. From that point on,
they trusted God to supply their needs.
Ten years of work in China were followed
by six years in India, where Studd’s father
had become rich. C.T.’s health was not
the greatest by then, and neither was
his wife’s. After India, he pressed on for
another twenty-one years in the heart
of Africa until he died and was buried
there at age seventy. His passion was
to share the gospel with those who had
never heard of Christ.
C. T. Studd was a man who did not let
family money distract him from what
was truly important in life. History tells
us that his children caught his values
system. Three of his daughters married
Christian leaders. Some two thousand
Congolese showed up for his funeral in
July 1931.