“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” –Matthew 16:25 NIV

No Such Thing as Sacrifice

Rain pounded against the ship’s deck as waves battered the hull. Hudson stood alone, watching the English shoreline disappear on the horizon.

At just 21 years old, he had left behind his family, his country, and any hope of an ordinary life. He sailed to China with no organization backing him, no promised salary, and no guarantee of survival—only the calling God had given him.

Hudson’s call hadn’t come with a blinding light or booming voice. It came quietly, one afternoon in his bedroom, after months of wrestling with God. In full surrender, he laid down his ambition, comforts, and even relationships, and in the stillness, he heard God say, “Go for Me to China.”

Hudson Chose to Go

Three years later, he boarded the Dumfries with a one-way ticket to Shanghai. After a grueling five-month voyage, he arrived to the sounds of riots and cannon fire. The Taiping Rebellion—one of the bloodiest conflicts in history—had begun.

As a foreigner in a war-torn region, he was an outcast treated with suspicion. Locals called him a yáng guǐ zi—a derogatory term meaning “foreign devil.” At every turn he fought for his life, yet he never wavered in his mission. He later wrote, “It makes no matter where [God] places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position, He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient.”

Learning the Culture

Hudson soon met Maria Jane Dryer, the daughter of a well-known missionary with the London Missionary Society, and the two bonded over their radical commitment to reaching the Chinese by whatever means possible. After marrying, they doubled down on their commitment, moving further inland, trading western clothes for traditional robes, mastering Mandarin, and taking up the austere diet of the locals.

Though illegal and dangerous, Hudson made covert trips into inland provinces, determined to preach the gospel where it had never been heard. When China’s borders officially opened after the Convention of Peking in 1860, he was ready. He founded the China Inland Mission (CIM), gathered a team of 16 missionaries, and journeyed up the Yangtze River—farther than any missionary had gone before. By 1881, CIM workers were present in all 18 provinces, paving the way for future evangelism efforts in China and influencing missional strategy around the world for generations to come.

Difficult Conditions

But the fruit of Hudson’s labor was not without sacrifice. Harsh living conditions led to the death of four of Hudson and Maria’s eight children—three of them in infancy and one at age eight. In 1870, just weeks after their youngest son passed, Maria contracted cholera and died, leaving Hudson with a newborn baby girl who also tragically passed away a few days later.

Hudson experienced indescribable grief and hardship. Yet, despite it all, he never quit; he never lost faith. 

By the end of his life, the China Inland Mission had sent more than 800 missionaries to the regions other organizations avoided. Taylor had reached people and tribes that had never heard the name of Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul, he was pressed and crushed, persecuted and struck down, enduring storms, sickness, and the deaths of those closest to him. Still, when asked near the end of his life about all he had given up, Hudson said something astounding:

“I never made a sacrifice.”

How could a man who gave so much say that?

Give Everything to Jesus

Because when he saw the infinite worth of Christ, surrender didn’t feel like loss. It felt like worship. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). A few chapters later, Jesus explains, “Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

The world teaches us to cling tightly to what we have. Jesus invites us to give everything to Him. Hudson understood that invitation—and he responded with a life of radical surrender. While we may not all be asked to move to the other side of the world or give up loved ones, we will all be asked to surrender something to the Lord. When the time comes, how can we respond like Hudson Taylor? He didn’t live cautiously. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s call. He opened his hands and said, “Lord, take it all.”

What does this mean for me?

What is God asking you to lay down so you can step fully into the mission He’s given you? What would it look like to stop asking, “Is it worth it” and start saying, “You’re worth it”? Take a moment to write down something specific and ask God for grace to move forward in His will for your life.

This article is part of the Let’s Go devotional, which is focused on fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission. Follow along with the devotional here.