Jonathan Edwards, Resolutions, and Manhood

By Kyle Worley

In an age where flippancy, prolonged adolescence, and foolishness are celebrated; the voice of men who came before ring louder than ever.  Young men must sit at the feet of the great men of history and hear their stories, sing their songs, and read the books they read. There is a world out there that needs leaders and we have a vacuum of able and willing men to lead.

Every year that rolls over provides a time for reflecting on how we have dropped the ball in the previous year and how we might be able to walk in greater maturity in the following year. As you begin your New Year, there are a myriad of ways that you could seek to improve upon your person in 2014, but before you begin to make commitments for the New Year we would like to encourage you to read through Jonathan Edwards Resolutions.  Edwards challenged himself to read over these resolutions once a week. He began his list by saying, “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.”

Some of the most challenging of Edwards’ Resolutions include:

• Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
• Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
• Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
• Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.
• Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.
• Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.

To read more of these Resolutions, we would love for you to go and visit Yale University’s Jonathan Edwards Center Online. You can read the Resolutions here.

Our friends over at Desiring God have compiled Edwards Resolutions according to topics here: The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Stephen Nichols has also written an excellent article over at Ligonier Ministries on this topic as well, you can find it here: The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards.

Lord, make us Godly men.

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Kyle Worley is Connections Minister at the Village Church in Dallas, TX. He is the author of Pitfalls: Along the Path to Young and Reformed and blogs regularly at The Strife. He holds a double B.A. in Biblical Studies and Philosophy from Dallas Baptist University and an M.A. in Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is pursuing a M.A. in Religion at Redeemer Seminary. You can find Kyle on Twitter @kyleworley.