Like so many Christians I mourn the recent loss of Ravi Zacharias, the brilliant apologist of the faith who succumbed to a virulent form of bone cancer. I believe the world has lost a giant thinker comparable only to C.S. Lewis or Derek Prince in his ability to use logic, reason, humor and compassion to argue the moral case for God’s existence against post modernism and moral relativism. His was a steady, reasonable voice of ethical sanity in the growing world of immoral subjectivism.

Ravi’s special gift was to answer questions about Christ and the Christian faith clearly, precisely and always with kindness for those who not only did not believe but were often openly hostile to him, especially in large university settings where students would test him. He was never dismissive and always respectful to them. He consistently used God’s Word to support his reasoning and never wavering conclusions, that only the God of the Bible could answer the most basic questions we humans have: What is truth and reality? Why am I here? Is there a God? Where is He in evil and suffering.? Prove it to me!

I discovered him years ago on videos and was immediately fascinated. I’d found a mentor. Ravi had a prodigious memory and rarely relied on notes when speaking. He could recite poetry and quotes as well as Scripture by heart, intersperse logic with stories like a story teller. His arguments were surgical in their precision even as his mind overflowed like a well coursed river. At all times, in every questioned answered and argument he made, the Gospel of Jesus Christ shone through. Ravi had one central ministry and that was to spread God’s Word to the world by gentle, irrefutable persuasion.

I was struck by his utter humility. While he often mentioned his Indian heritage, how he‘d been saved from teen suicide and transformed, he never dwelled on the details of his former life except as a reference point from which his calling came. Like Paul, Ravi was overcome by God’s love and was sold out to the one thing: the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone.

In a video posted in January, he was vibrant, lucid and as brilliant as ever. But he also seemed more pensive, perhaps already knowing the end which was coming very soon. He was asked what might be his first words to the Lord when meeting Him. Ravi answered that “I would be absolutely silent because I’d be terrified about what God’s first words to me will be!” The man who reached millions earlier this year stood in true and humble fear of the Lord, concerned first with God’s opinion of his life. The only accolade he desired was to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Surely, he received the accolade he longed for.

His crown is now laid elsewhere in the heavens, but his legacy remains here on the planet, particularly in my life. Thank you God for the precious gift.