By 1869, Hudson Taylor had already accomplished remarkable things for God. He had founded the China Inland Mission and pioneered missionary work in China's interior. Yet inwardly, he was miserable.
Struggling Despite Spiritual Success
"I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living near to God," Taylor wrote to his mother. "I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for retirement and meditation - but all was without effect."
The more he tried to be holy, the more he failed. The harder he strove, the more defeated he felt. "Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of failure and sin oppressed me," he confessed.
A Letter Changes Everything
Then, on September 4, 1869, Taylor received a letter from his friend John McCarthy that changed everything. McCarthy described his own discovery that abiding in Christ was not about struggling harder, but about resting in what Christ had already done.
"As I read," Taylor later wrote, "I saw it all! I looked to Jesus, and when I saw - oh, how joy flowed!"
Discovering the Exchanged Life
The insight that transformed him was simple yet profound: "Not a striving to have faith, or to increase our faith, but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need." The Christian life was not about Taylor's efforts for Christ, but Christ's life flowing through Taylor.
This discovery of what he called "the exchanged life" revolutionized his ministry. For the remaining 36 years of his life, Taylor served with a new freedom and joy. "I am no longer anxious about anything," he wrote, "as I realize that He is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine."
