By: Will Basham

Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan pastor in New England in the 18th century and is arguably the greatest American theologian. His influence on pastoral ministry and theology is vast. Precisely 300 years ago, in 1722 and 1723, Edwards famously wrote his own personal resolutions. He had 70 of them! (You can read them here). I struggle to come up with one or two resolutions for myself annually, let alone keep them. I’ve lost track of how many periods in my life I’ve cut out drinking pop (soda for you more refined folks) only to return to my love of the 23 wonderful flavors within Dr. Pepper. I’ve also failed at reading the Bible in a single year more times than I care to admit, especially as a pastor.

Thankfully, I feel that I’m not alone in my inability to keep the promises I make to myself. Every now and then, we see some wonderful success stories the week after Christmas: stories of people honoring a commitment for a full year in dropping significant weight, remaining sober, accomplishing goals, etc. We should rightly applaud such accomplishments! However, I feel that if we’re honest, way more of us fail year after year rather than succeed.

To be fair, I’m very positive that Jonathan Edwards did not keep perfectly his 70 resolutions. Why is it that failing to follow through seems so common? As I read through Edwards’ resolutions and compared them to my own, I noticed one glaring difference: my resolutions existed to better myself and Edwards’ 70 resolutions existed to glorify God. At this time of year, we commonly see the phrase, “new year, new me.” Maybe our resolution culture has gotten this wrong. Maybe instead of being better and jumping higher this year, our goals ought to be rooted in self-sacrifice, humility, and the glory of God. When our hope for betterment rests upon our own depraved abilities, we fail and fall short time after time. On the other hand, when we resolve to glorify God above all, our priorities are placed in their proper place.

Here’s my personal favorite resolution of the 70 that Edwards penned:

(#25) “Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.”

This one simple resolution captures what a good resolution for ourselves should be. Our resolutions should not merely better ourselves, but also draw us closer to God. Edwards’ 25th resolution accomplishes both of those things while showing that the betterment of ourselves actually lies within the drawing of ourselves closer to the love of God.

Brothers and sisters, God loves you just as much in your failure as in your success. Isn’t that mind blowing? No, really, take a moment to go back and read that first sentence again. As I write it, my flesh even causes me to wonder if it’s theologically accurate. Make no mistake, God will be pleased if I read my bible more this year than I did last year, but he will most assuredly not love me more because of my diligence.

1 John 3:1a says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” I love the simplicity that John uses when demonstrating the love of God for us. He doesn’t give a long formula of how we earn God’s love. He instead tells us that we just have it. We are God’s children because God wanted us to be. “And so we are,” as John puts it. When you fail to keep your resolution this year (as most of you will) and you’re tempted to ask God why he loves a failure like you, this passage tells us that God’s answer basically is, “I just do.” 

In 1 John 4:10, the apostle gives us more insight: this love is based on Jesus’ perfection in the place of our imperfection. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” We fail to keep our resolutions and promises all the time, but our Savior never did. When we are reminded of our failures, we look to the perfection of Jesus and find assurance, hope, and love.

This gospel assurance leads us to gospel perseverance. One time I had a conversation with one of my children about their behavior. I inquired of my beloved child why they continually acted in disobedience. The response was something to the effect of, “Once I’ve already blown it I just say, ‘Screw it,’ and do whatever I want.” That sounds like harsh teenage rhetoric, but I have to admit I really resonate with that tendency. How many times do we get off track from our resolutions or commitments and say, “Well there’s always next year,” and wait until January 1st? Perhaps some of Edwards’ perseverance came from the resolve in his opening statement of these resolutions: “Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.”

Child of God, when you fail there’s not “always next year;” there’s tomorrow.

(Source link: The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards | Desiring God)