Only God's opinion matters (Authentic Servant: What I Learned from the Life of David Brainerd Part 2)

We Filipinos tend to value group acceptance more than individual morality. Consequently, we base our sense of right and wrong on what gives us social approval. Conforming with the crowd makes us feel like we’re good individuals. We adopt the views of persons that wield authority over groups to score points that might promote us into the inner circles of power. 

Because we base our happiness on external validation, life becomes a game of optics. Compliance without question is the key to being bestowed the vestiges of respectability. But the whims of crowds and authoritarians are not the standards by which we will be judged. Rather, it is God’s Word that will expose and judge every heart (Isaiah 33:22; Hebrews 4:12). We always fall short of His commands because His holiness demands perfection from us (Romans 3:3; 1 Peter 1:16). To cover our guilt, we do good works that will never avert our eternal punishment.

Weighed and Found Wanting

Centuries ago in the United States, a man named David Brainerd thought that he could earn God’s forgiveness by conforming to people’s religious expectations. Brainerd was born into a wealthy family that gave him a strict Puritan upbringing. He attended a conservative local church in Hartford, Connecticut, which was a bastion of Protestantism. In his desire to be rid of the guilt that plagued him, Brainerd dutifully prayed and read the Bible. He did whatever the church expected of him. He even pursued theological studies at Yale University, where he topped his class because of his diligence and academic brilliance. 

Despite being a straight arrow, Brainerd couldn’t shake off the feeling that God was displeased with him. That’s because the Lord was indeed angry with him! Good works could never make Brainerd less guilty of pride. Should a judge absolve a corrupt government contractor from stealing the taxpayers’ money because the latter gives to charity? Should the courts forgive a politician's murderous acts just because he goes to church?  

Of course not! To do so would be a grave injustice. They’re still guilty regardless of their good deeds. It’s the same with Brainerd and with us no matter how benign we think our sins may be because the Lord demands perfect holiness. As a righteous Judge, God must punish us by sending us to hell for our sins that cannot be forgiven by doing good works (Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 13:50). 

Deliverance

Brainerd saw that he was helpless in securing his salvation. But as he meditated on God’s Word, the Holy Spirit revealed to him the goodness of Christ. The young Yale student became awed at the truth that because God wants to save people from hell, He sent Jesus to die on the cross to bear the punishment for our sins (John 3:16). There is no other way to be reconciled with God except to trust that only Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is enough to save us (John 14:6; Eph. 2:8-9). 

Brainerd wrote in his diary, “I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that He should be God over all forever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God…If I could’ve been saved by my own duties, or any other way that I had formerly contrived, my whole soul would now have refused it. I wondered that all the world did not see and comply with this way of salvation, entirely by the righteousness of Christ.”

God will judge us as individuals. On that day, the thought leaders will be silenced, the echo chambers will be shattered. What then will be God's opinion of you? When we finally see Him, may He find us cleansed from our sins by the blood of Jesus. 

REFERENCE:

Edwards, J. (1949). The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (P.E. Howard, Jr., Ed.). Baker Book House (Original work published in 1749).