My Work Is Done

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV)

Brainerd had very little time to enjoy what God had done. The tuberculosis that had shadowed him for years grew worse. He was coughing blood and could no longer ride the long distances his work needed. In the spring of 1747 he left the people at Crossweeksung and travelled to Northampton, Massachusetts, to the home of the pastor Jonathan Edwards.

There, for his last months, he was looked after mainly by Edwards’s daughter, Jerusha. As he grew weaker, his peace grew stronger. A few days before he died, he said to her: “Dear Jerusha, are you willing to part with me?” He told her that he had committed everyone he loved to God, including his brother John, “although I love him the best of any creature living.” And he added: “We shall spend an happy eternity together!”

When someone came in carrying a Bible, he said, “O that dear book—that lovely book! I shall soon see it opened!”

And when someone asked how he was, he answered:

“I am almost in eternity; I long to be there. My work is done; I have done with all my friends: all the world is nothing to me. I long to be in heaven, praising and glorifying God with the holy angels. All my desire is to glorify God.”

He died early on the morning of Friday, 9 October 1747. He was twenty-nine.

It would be easy to end there, with a sad story of a young life cut short. But it didn’t end there. His younger brother John took over the work at Crossweeksung and cared for the Christian community there for years. And Edwards published Brainerd’s diary, which has been read by millions and has sent people to serve God across the world ever since.

Brainerd once said: “There is nothing in the world worth living for, but doing good, and finishing God’s work, doing the work that Christ did.” His life was short, often painful, and far from perfect. But he gave it to God, and God used it far beyond anything he could have imagined.

You don’t know how long your life will be, or how big or small it will look. That is not yours to decide. What you can decide is whom you live it for. Paul, near the end of his life, said he had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. Brainerd could say the same. By God’s grace, so can you.

One thing to do this week: write one sentence about what you want your life to be about, the way Brainerd’s was about glorifying God and doing good. Put it somewhere you will see it every day this week, and ask God to help you live it.