His college career in sports has been described as "one long blaze of cricketing glory." Born of a wealthy English planter who had made a fortune in India before retiring to a life of ease back in England, all a young man could need or want surrounded him from infancy. After attending Eton and making his mark in tennis and cricket, he moved on to Trinity College, Cambridge. By the time he had finished his studies, he had become captain of the Cambridge cricket team, was a star on England's national team, and was a household name throughout all England. His was an amazing record of brilliancy in all aspects of the game—one which ranks him as one of the greatest all-around players that the game has ever seen. Endowed with a wealthy family, a world-class education, and mounting fame—all before completing college—Charles Thomas Studd, captain of the Cambridge XI and all-England cricketer, was destined for greatness.

"I had as much love for cricket as any man could have," Charles later said.¹ But only when his brother George, himself a famed cricketer who had played for England's national team, became gravely ill, did Charles begin to treasure something more than a game. Despite all the success, Charles could not stop asking himself, "Now what is all the popularity of the world worth to George? What is all the fame and flattery worth? What is it worth to possess all the riches in the world, when a man comes to face Eternity?"² In that moment, keeping vigil by his dying brother's bed, Charles began to evaluate the true worth of things based upon a standard more enduring than that of fame and fortune.

"My heart was no longer in the game," he would later reflect. "I knew that cricket would not last, and honour would not last and nothing in this world would last." But he did not stop there. "I found that I had something infinitely better than cricket." That something—far beyond the glory of sport and the heady achievement on and off the pitch—came, in his words, "when the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart...."³ Charles Studd, poised between what was already an accomplished past and what was to have been an extraordinary future, was captivated by the preciousness of Christ. His life would never be the same.

Although he had had a previous encounter with the Lord Jesus, only now did Christ's peerless worth constrain him. While he had been studying for the bar exam, he now found it unthinkable to give his life to anything other than Christ Himself. "I found," he wrote, "that it was absolutely impossible for me conscientiously to go into any business or profession. It seemed so thoroughly inconsistent." If Christ's worth was truly "infinitely better" than anything else he had experienced, he reasoned, then how could he spend the best years of his life "working for myself and the honours and pleasures of this world," instead of giving his life and his all wholeheartedly to God?⁴ And so it was with deep affection and a firm conviction that Charles Studd, age 25, set sail to China, and later to India, America, and eventually Belgian Congo, where he would later die, to tell everyone he could of the One who had captured his heart.

What is so precious about Jesus? we may ask ourselves as we read about Charles Studd. Although Jesus may be low in our estimation at present, we cannot help marveling when we try to make sense of people the likes of Charles. How could he, in one instant, have such a radical reappraisal of those things that had been so dear to him before and exchange them once for all for Jesus, a man he had never seen, met, heard, or known in the flesh? What did he see in Christ that compelled him to joyously "waste" his life and future on Him? What is so precious about Jesus?

While the annals of history record the words and deeds of many great and good persons, none can compare with the person and work of Christ. This Man, who was the manifestation of God in the flesh,⁵ did what no other man could do: He died for our sins. We as humans are sick with sin and weighed down with the sorrow of sin. Because of our numerous offenses against God and man, we are afflicted with a sense of guilt and regret which time cannot heal. When compared to the standard of God's righteousness, we have all fallen woefully short—so very short that we deserve to die. Yet this Man bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrows when He was crucified upon a cross of wood.⁶ We were the ones who should have suffered there, but He hung on the cross in our place. On that cross, He was wounded because of our transgressions and was crushed because of our iniquities. Like sheep, we had all gone astray; each of us had turned to our own way. But God caused our iniquity to fall on Him instead. He was oppressed, He was afflicted, and on that day He was cut off from of the land of the living for our transgression. This One—this perfect and precious One who had done no violence and in whose mouth no deceit was found—this One God crushed and afflicted with grief when He made Himself an offering for our sin.⁷ Finally, as a vindication of the effectiveness of His death in taking care of our sin, God raised Him from the dead.⁸

So what did Charles Studd, and what do so many like him, see in Christ? They see the righteous One dying on behalf of us all, the unrighteous ones. They see the perfect Man who took our sins upon Himself and suffered the penalty of death in our stead. They see Him pouring out His all on the cross so that we could be saved from our sinful nature and behavior. They see the One whom God resurrected for our justification. In the Lord Jesus Christ, they see the most precious One in the universe.

As with Charles Studd, when we hear of Christ and of what He has done for us, there stirs within us a feeling of deep gratitude and a growing sense of His worth. Not only so, this precious One who loves us and who died and rose for us is today waiting for us to believe into Him and believe in what He has done for us. Now, we want to receive Him and He wants to receive us. According to His Word, the way that we receive Him is to affirm with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead.⁹ When we believe in Him, we will receive Him. At that very moment, all the benefit of Christ's death for us will be ours. Our sins will be forgiven and the accompanying guilt and shame will be gone. And most wonderfully of all, Jesus, precious Jesus, will be ours.

1 Grubb, Norman. C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer (Christian Literature Crusade, 1982), p. 34. (back) 2 ibid., 33. (back) 3 ibid. (back) 4 ibid., 35. (back) 5 1 Timothy 3:16 (back) 6 1 Peter 2:24 (back) 7 Isaiah 53 (back) 8 Romans 4:25 (back) 9 Romans 10:9

When we see all that the Lord Jesus has done for us, we cannot help but desire to receive Him and know Him. If you would like to receive Him right now and begin a life of knowing and loving this precious One, please pray:

"O Lord Jesus, You are so precious! I love You. Thank You for dying for me. Thank You for taking my place on the cross and forgiving me of my sins. Lord Jesus, nothing can compare to You. Come into me, Lord Jesus. I give my life and my all to You. Lord Jesus, I love You."