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E. Stanley Jones
Eli Stanley Jones (1884–1973). Born on January 3, 1884, in Clarksville, Maryland, to George Washington and Lydia Jones, E. Stanley Jones was an American Methodist missionary, evangelist, and author renowned for his global ministry and interfaith dialogue. Raised in a devout Methodist family, he converted at 17 during a revival meeting, sensing a call to preach. He graduated from Asbury College in Kentucky (1907), where he honed his oratorical skills, and briefly studied law before committing to ministry. Ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he sailed to India in 1907 as a missionary under the Methodist Board of Missions, pastoring an English-speaking church in Lucknow and later focusing on evangelism among India’s intellectual and low-caste communities. His “round table conferences” fostered open discussions with Hindus and Muslims, earning respect from figures like Mahatma Gandhi. Jones authored 28 books, including The Christ of the Indian Road (1925), a bestseller translated into 30 languages, Christ at the Round Table (1928), Victorious Living (1936), and The Divine Yes (1975, posthumous), emphasizing Christ’s universal appeal. A global preacher, he spoke in over 40 countries, advocating Christian unity and social justice, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 and 1963. Married to Mabel Lossing in 1911, a missionary educator, they had one daughter, Eunice, who became a missionary. Despite health struggles, including a stroke in 1971, Jones died on January 25, 1973, in Bareilly, India, saying, “The way to God is Christ, and He is open to all.”
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E. Stanley Jones emphasizes the inherent capacity and necessity of love within us, highlighting that self-interest and other-interest are both inherent in children, with happiness found in being other-interested. Our destiny is to love, and living against this destiny leads to unhappiness for ourselves and those around us. By choosing to be people of love, we align with the universe's design and fulfill our destiny, making love our central life purpose.
Growth in Love
The capacity and necessity of love is inherent within us. We stress the inherent self-interest of the child, but the other-interest is just as inherent in the child. This is obvious from the fact that if the child is only self-interested, turning to selfishness, he or she is automatically an unhappy child. The happy child is the other-interested child. We are destined to love and this destiny is written with us. We can live against this destiny and be unloving, but if we do, we are automatically unhappy and automatically make those around us unhappy. This passage tells us of our destiny: "destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 1:5, Moffat) We are destined to be Christians, to be His sons, and that destiny came through His love -- "destining us in love." If that destiny came out of love, then it must hold within it a destiny to love. When you decided to be a man or woman of love, you are deciding to live with the grain of the universe, not against it. You are fulfilling your own destiny. And since to be a man or woman of love is your destiny, then do what Paul suggests: "Make love your aim," your life purpose. (1 Corinthians 14:1, Moffatt) This will take the business of love out of the ocassional and the spasmodic and will make it the central controlling purpose of your life. Then you will not be a person who occasionally loves when it is convenient, but a person whose controlling life pupose is love. Love will be the organizing motive and power in your life.
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Eli Stanley Jones (1884–1973). Born on January 3, 1884, in Clarksville, Maryland, to George Washington and Lydia Jones, E. Stanley Jones was an American Methodist missionary, evangelist, and author renowned for his global ministry and interfaith dialogue. Raised in a devout Methodist family, he converted at 17 during a revival meeting, sensing a call to preach. He graduated from Asbury College in Kentucky (1907), where he honed his oratorical skills, and briefly studied law before committing to ministry. Ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he sailed to India in 1907 as a missionary under the Methodist Board of Missions, pastoring an English-speaking church in Lucknow and later focusing on evangelism among India’s intellectual and low-caste communities. His “round table conferences” fostered open discussions with Hindus and Muslims, earning respect from figures like Mahatma Gandhi. Jones authored 28 books, including The Christ of the Indian Road (1925), a bestseller translated into 30 languages, Christ at the Round Table (1928), Victorious Living (1936), and The Divine Yes (1975, posthumous), emphasizing Christ’s universal appeal. A global preacher, he spoke in over 40 countries, advocating Christian unity and social justice, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 and 1963. Married to Mabel Lossing in 1911, a missionary educator, they had one daughter, Eunice, who became a missionary. Despite health struggles, including a stroke in 1971, Jones died on January 25, 1973, in Bareilly, India, saying, “The way to God is Christ, and He is open to all.”