"Oh, how sweet it is to be spent and worn out for God!" These are the simple but wonderfully true words of David Brainerd, a missionary to American Indians in the 1700s. Brainerd was saved at the age of 21 and died when he was only 29, but looking at his life it is clear to see the impact he had in that short time. Though weak and painfully ill in the last few years of his life, he spent himself to the end, riding for miles on horseback just to reach more Indians with the Gospel. His life is a testament to the truth that he preached.
Examining David Brainerd’s life should cause us to question what we are spending our lives on. Are we focused on Facebook, Wii, shopping, and sports, or are we all about advancing God’s kingdom for the sake of the Gospel? It occurred to me that I don’t want to reach the end of my life full of energy, time, money, or talent that I could have spent on the advancement of God’s kingdom. And I don't want to spend what I do have on the wrong things. When I stand before God, I want to be spent, wasted, and exhausted, because I chose to give every part of my being to His work.
We can’t know the end of our lives, whether it will be when we’re 89 or 29 like it was for David Brainerd. But we can decide today how we want to spend those remaining days. How are you going to spend yours? On fleeting comforts of this world or on mission for God? Before David Brainerd died he wrote these words, “I declare, now I am dying, I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world.”
Oh, that we may be able to say those words on our death bed and enter God’s presence completely spent on advancing the kingdom of God!
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