Looking forward: Resolved

One of my heroes of the faith is a man called Jonathan Edwards (I highly recommend Piper's "A God entranced Vision of all things" as an excellent biography of the Edwards' life). Early in his life, Edwards wrote down "resolutions" that he intended to keep his whole life through. As he opened his resolutions, he wrote...

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

Edwards had 65 resolutions in total... there is not enough room on this post to record them all, but they can be found here. Edwards resolutions were not there to be legalistic, to put him on a guilt trip, or to make his life one long "to do" list. They were there because he wanted to discipline himself to follow Christ as best he could.... and he knew he needed humility and grace to achieve them.


As we start the new year, its easy to become burdened with unrealistic New Years Resolutions... resolutions aren't meant to be easy to keep; they are meant to be a challenge, but they are meant to be realistic...


This year I want to look more closely at one of Edwards resolutions every week... to understand why he felt each of those 65 things so central to his walk with Christ, and perhaps to deepen my own understanding of how God's grace and my own self-discipline can deepen my faith.


So Mondays, for 2012, (and a little bit of 2013!) are going to be spent unpacking Edwards resolutions in the hope that they will help me to discipline myself a little better... and make me a bit more resolved...


Happy New Year!


Claire x