David Brainerd (1718–1747)

David Brainerd was a colonial-era missionary best known for evangelizing American Indians during the Great Awakening. Converted as a young man and trained at Yale before dismissal for a controversial remark, he carried a deep sense of personal unworthiness and an unusually rigorous devotional life. Frail health—likely tuberculosis—shadowed nearly every mile of his ministry, yet he pressed on with a pattern of fasting, Scripture meditation, and relentless prayer that later readers would call heroic.

February 20, 1743 Journal Entry

On February 20, 1743, Brainerd recorded a searching line: “Selfish religion loves Christ for his benefits, but not for himself.” The statement captures his spiritual honesty: he refused to measure faith by comfort, success, or emotional ease. He tested motives, fearing a religion that uses Jesus mainly as a means to gifts—peace, protection, reputation, or relief—rather than worshiping Him as the supreme treasure. His words echo a biblical warning about the heart’s true center: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Mission Fields and Costly Obedience

Brainerd’s early work included Kaunaumeek (near present-day New York–Massachusetts), followed by significant labor in New Jersey among Delaware (Lenape) communities, notably at Crossweeksung. He often traveled on foot or horseback through winter cold, sleeping in sparse shelters, facing hunger, loneliness, and recurrent illness. In seasons when preaching strength failed, prayer did not; he sought awakenings not by charm or comfort but by dependence on God’s mercy. Such perseverance displayed steadfast love—doing good when it is costly—and humble courage that refuses to quit merely because the body is weak.

Enduring Influence

Brainerd’s journal, later published by Jonathan Edwards, shaped generations of pastors and missionaries by portraying devotion stripped of self-promotion. Near the end of his life, cared for in the Edwards home and engaged to Jerusha Edwards, he bore suffering with a quiet aim: to want Christ more than relief. His counsel still calls believers to love that begins with grace, not gain: “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).