God Loves… Himself

“Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge” (Resolution 14).

In this resolution we can see the heart of a man that desires to love all for the sake of His name and not act from selfish motives. Taking revenge is not an act that reflects love for God and our enemy, but reflects a person that loves himself more than anything or anyone else. Revenge is a self-centered act as if one is the true God. “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. When we take revenge, we are playing God in meting out personal punishment which is really going over what justice require. We are to love our neighbor and leave the rest to God. Instead, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone” (Rom 12:17). Even more, “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18). Rather than take revenge, man is to love. Returning good for evil and love for hatred is what is to some degree what is meant by being meek as in the Beatitudes (Mat 5) and is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5). When a person resolves never to do anything out of revenge, that person is resolved not to act like the devil and to act like Christ. Christ died for His enemies. This is submission to the sovereignty and love of God who allows and brings all trials to us, even the people that abuse us out of evil hearts and yet God intends it for good.

“Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality” (Resolution 13).

Believers should always be looking for people to show mercy and charity to in order to glorify God through Jesus Christ. But not everyone is a fit object of these things in terms of physical relief. Many people have their hands out, but not many are fit objects of charity. We must try to be sure that people are not just begging as a way to avoid labor and are really needy. Most people have limited means and so in order to be good stewards and honor God as they want to they need to try to be sure that individuals they help are fit objects of charity.

In trying to find fit objects for charity we emulate God in the Gospel. There are many people that want to be saved, but they do see themselves as truly needy and without means to help themselves. Many want God to save them but do not really think that God needs to do it all. They want God to help them so that salvation will be easier than doing it all by themselves. So in finding people that are truly needy we look for people that truly cannot help themselves and so in an analogous way they are like those that are poor in spirit. In this our help for people is like the Gospel which helps those by sheer and total grace with no expectation of a payback. In this way Christians show the world in some way the Gospel of grace that is of nothing but mercy.

“Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride or vanity or any such account, immediately to throw it by” (Resolution 12).

Edwards was a man that guarded his heart and mind in order to love God and glorify Him rather than do anything for himself apart from the glory of God. He saw the incredible danger of pride and vanity and saw that whatever came from that had to be done away with. “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate” (Prov 8:13). While God is a God of love, He does hate pride. Pride is the swelling up of self and all that is done from pride is done from a narrow and selfish love for self. One cannot do anything for the glory of God and do it from pride at the same time. God is opposed to the proud in the sense that He stands against them in battle alignment (James 4:6). God fights the proud and will bring them down. Edwards saw that pride was such an enemy of God that he knew that if he did something out of pride it was not to the glory of God and as such his heart would be hardened by whatever it was that he took pleasure in. So he determined to examine his heart to be sure that what he did or obtained was not to gratify his pride and vanity. He resolved to keep such a watch on his heart that he would watch his heart closely for a delight in something that sprang from pride. This is recognition of the state and danger of the human heart.

“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity” (Psa 5:4-5). This text should focus our attention as it did Edwards. God takes no pleasure in wickedness, yet we are to do all for His pleasure since He does all for His own glory and pleasure (Psa 115:1-3). Man is to seek to try to please God and clearly God takes no pleasure in pride. No evil dwells with God and pride is evil. So for those who desire to dwell with God, they must beware of pride in all instances. If a person wishes to stand before God, that person must realize that the boastful (form of pride) will not stand before Him. The text even says that God hates all who do iniquity and we know that all that has pride cannot be anything but iniquity.

“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Prov 16:18). Here we see that pride precedes destruction and the haughty spirit precedes stumbling. In other words, when we see that this verse goes along with God fighting the proud, we see why the proud are destroyed and the haughty stumble. God is able to humble the proud and He will do it. A man or woman that knows that God fights the proud and brings destruction upon them is the person that realizes how much God hates pride and learns to hate it too. So when we look in our hearts and know that what we have done or obtained has been from pride, what is the proper response of the person that realizes that God hates pride and that I should also? It is to cast away whatever was obtained by pride in order to please God. No matter how much I desire something and am gratified by it, if I desire it or obtain it because of pride then I am fighting God and have or desire something that God will hate because of my pride. The safest course of action is to cast the thing away, even with detestation.

Human beings are by nature proud and selfish. If God has not broken and humbled a person’s heart, then all that the proud person does is sin and nothing but sin. Even the outward righteous acts of the unhumbled person is done from pride and so done out of an idolatrous heart. While man does not like this as it cuts into his self-righteous heart and tells man that his self-righteousness is as filthy rags, it does not negate the truth of the assertion. All acts, no matter how good they may be in appearance, when they are moved and motivated by pride come from an idolatrous heart and God judges even our best actions as less than worthless.

Can we say that Romans 1:25 does not teach us about religious man too? They “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man” (Rom 1:23). “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom 1:25). All of these things people do in religion when the religion is not that set out by the Creator. People exchange the glory of God for an image, even an image of God that is unworthy of Him in the mind. People exchange the truth of who God is for a lie and so they worship and serve themselves. What if man’s religion and worship are moved from pride? Are not these things to be cast away as well? What if we find that our technological toys, houses, cars, preaching, worship, and traditions are moved by pride and vanity rather than the truth of God?

“Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can toward solving it, if circumstances don’t hinder” (Resolution 11).

Here is the heart and mind of a man that desired God. Edwards was a man that spent his life thinking about God and the things that related to God. This resolution is required by a man that intends to love God with his mind and to keep his first two resolutions which I will list: “Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory and to my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now or never so many myriads of ages hence” (Section of Resolution 1). “Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the forementioned things” (Resolution 2).

When a person studies the Bible and/or theology, there are seeming contradictions and issues that arise. One can choose to ignore those, handle them simplistically, or dive to the depths of the issue. Edwards seemed to always want to dive to the depths of the issue. Yale University Press has put out four volumes of Edwards’ Miscellanies, from a through 1360, in which he wrestled with many issues. Some of his wrestling with issues or musing on paper extends for several pages. It is obvious that he took his theology seriously from his many writings and from his resolutions.

Some think that Edwards was guilty of novelty in his theology and even used too much philosophy. The older Southern Presbyterians Robert Dabney, James Thornwell, and John Girardeau certainly did. While they would defend him at points, they seemed to believe that he was innovative at too many points in his theology. I would like to present another view. I believe that Edwards was a man that started with God and His glory at all points. This made it harder for him to fit with any particular theology that might be more driven by other issues. Edwards strove to make all that he did flow from the glory of God and that primarily. He did this in his sermons, his theological writings, and his more philosophical writings as well. While he was an orthodox theologian, he did differ because of his thorough God-centeredness at all points. While his logic was precise, it seemed that he was more concerned that his theology flow from the glory of God and end in the glory of God than he was with holding to a traditional way of putting things. This caused many to look at him as a man with novel views.

Edwards ran into many problems that he had to work out from his radical God-centered view of things. He had more problems to solve than other theologians because he worked from a different paradigm. Systematic theology is very concerned about logical consistency within the doctrines that are held. That is a very good and noble goal. However, Edwards wanted consistency with the glory of God. It is not that he wasn’t concerned with logical consistency between the doctrines, but he was more concerned with the consistency that a doctrine had with the glory of God. This caused him to think through his doctrines from a different view than others did.

As an example, we can look at the difference Dabney had with Edwards’ ethics. Dabney thought that Edwards was a Utilitarian. On this Dabney is simply very wrong. In his writing on The Nature of True Virtue Edwards tried to use more of a philosophical language in setting out theological truths. I think this is what threw Dabney off in trying to read Edwards’s writings on ethics. Edwards used the phrase “Being in general” in that work and if Dabney or anyone does not get that definition right a great misunderstanding will occur. The term, as Edwards used it, simply meant God and all intelligent creatures. Dabney seemed to think that Edwards used it to say that man’s definition of good is simply to do that which leads to the greatest good for the most. Edwards meant that we must do what is for the glory of God out of love for God or we are not doing what is best for all men either.

Edwards drove himself to continually work on theology in order to work it out in a consistent manner with the glory of God. While others have misunderstood what he was doing, he is a great model for all of mankind to follow. Out of love for the glory of God we should pray and strive that all of our theology and practice flow from the glory of God and tend to the glory of God. That is what it means to love God while we do theology and Bible study. Imagine what it would be like to study theology and the Bible while breathing out desires and love for God. That is what Edwards did and that is what we should do too.

“Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom and of hell.” (Resolution 10).

We might be tempted to think of this as just a mind game or trick that Edwards used in order to win over pain or to make life easier in a day that did not have the pain relief medication that we have in our day. However, we should not think of these Resolutions like that. The Resolutions were meant to help Edwards focus on eternity in order to live to the glory of God now and forever. So we will attempt to understand this in that light.

What spiritual benefits could there have been that Edwards was thinking of in this Resolution and how will it help us in our day? I think that there are a few possible ways of looking at this. One, there is always the possibility that Edwards was striving to understand how to endure pain to the glory of God. After all, we should suffer pain to the glory of God since whatever we do is to be done to the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). Paul was spoken about in Acts 9:16 when the text says this: for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Paul’s sufferings were indeed used by God to advance the kingdom of God and the Gospel to the known world at that time. We can then see Paul’s view in the next two verses:

Romans 8:17 – and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Philippians 1:29 – For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

While it is hard to know what kind of pain Edwards was speaking of, whether physical or internal, or pain of illness or of persecution, we don’t have to exclude any of these. While Paul was more likely speaking of pain inflicted by persecutors of the faith, the verses do not have to be limited to that in principle. We know that God disciplines and trains His children in many ways (Heb 12:4-11). We know that God brings illness on His children for His purposes of training them. So we should learn to deal with pain and discomfort in a way that we would glorify Him and indeed would be to suffer for His sake. Whether we live or die we are His: “8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom 8:8-9). No matter where we are or what condition we are in, we should live to the glory of God.

This also teaches us to think of things from the eternal perspective. The pain of martyrdom is something that each believer should prepare for. Any believer might at any moment be called upon to die for Christ, even in the United States. Acts 7:20 gives us a powerful example of what each believer is called to do: “And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed.” The Greek word for “witness” in this text is martus. In Acts 23:11 we have another very interesting verse in this light: “But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” The word for witness in this text is martureo. At this point, I think, the root of the English word “martyr” should be clear. Stephen was the Lord’s WITNESS when he died. Paul was called to be a WITNESS when he went to Rome to preach Christ there. In Revelation 1:5 Jesus is called the faithful witness. And then we have the case of Antipas: “and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells (Rev 2:13).

We then have the words of Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” In that text we have the word “testimony” which is marturia in the original language. To be a witness of Christ and to bear testimony to Him was to be a martyr in that day and in some way our own. Each person that bears witness to Christ has to die to self in order to bear witness to Christ out of a true love for Him. Each person should realize that to be killed for that witness is possible. So we must train ourselves to think through certain thought processes now in order to stand firm at a time like that. One of those is to think of pain that we have now and realize that we must honor Christ with and in that pain. Another way that Edwards mentions is to think of how little the pain is in light of the pains of hell. That points to the grace of God who delivers sinners from the pains of hell.

“Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.” (Jonathan Edwards, Resolution 9)

This sounds so morbid to many in our day, but this is actually a very practical thing to do. While many speak of financial, estate, and all sorts of planning today, the most important issue is eternal planning. No matter the problems that a person has in this life, those problems will be left when he or she enters eternity. All of life’s problems pale in light of eternity. In one sense, then, to think much of death is to see the importance of life. Thinking of the occasion of death sharpens the sense of how one is to live in this life. This is to take an eternal view of life. What is important in terms of eternity?

Richard Baxter has written that when one dies his friends will scramble for his possessions, the worms for his body, and the devils for his soul. When one thinks of death all of those things come into sharp focus. What is the use of hoarding wealth and piling up material possessions? They will be left someday and all that a person has may be like fool’s gold. Man has been created to live to the glory of God in all that he does. But if man spends his time gathering possessions, when he enters eternity it will all have been fool’s gold. While on earth those possessions appeared as real and valuable, but in the light of eternity those things will be seen for what they are. We should spend our time and efforts at developing treasures in heaven where they last for eternity and not on earth where they last but for a very short time.

Many people spend huge amounts of money and time in order to eat well. Others spend huge amounts of money and time on physical fitness. Still others spend huge amounts of money on their hair and body in order to appear beautiful. The eternal view is that all of that money and time are being spent for worm food. True beauty is of the inward person and that is the beauty that God loves. We should spend times on getting our souls beautiful and into condition since they will last into eternity and the body lasts but a vapor of time on earth. Meditating on eternity brings a crash into reality of how we should view the body and how we spend our time. But, some say, my physical condition honors God. Perhaps, but how do we know that? Does Scripture instruct us to spend a lot of money and time doing that? Rather it tells us that “bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (I Tim 4:8). This does not inform us that some exercise is of no profit, but that bodily exercise is of little profit when compared to godliness. We should exercise our souls unto godliness if we have the eternal view. “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness (I Tim 4:7).

The eternal view looks at the soul and where it will reside for eternity. The soul is either housed in the body on earth for as long as the body will live and then it goes into a state in eternity that it will be forever and forever. The eternal view looks at the home of the soul in the long range view and decides to live according to that. While I am putting these things out in terms of self-interest, the real issue is love for God and living for His glory. Those who live this life in terms of wealth and health are in reality choosing self over God and that is idolatry. People must understand that no matter how much money they have they will die and it will do them no good at all. They must understand that no matter how great their health is, they may die very soon of disease or accident. The soul is what the devils will come for when a person dies.

Edwards’ resolution actually displays great wisdom. It looks upon eternity and brings all other things into connection with that. The person that meditates on eternity will not often be deceived into idolatry of temporal things. Perhaps we should add that meditation in and of itself is not as helpful as it might be unless we pray that the Lord would give us a sight of eternity and the weight of what it is. If man could only have the weight of eternity on his soul he would be a different person. In times of revival in the past people spoke of the weight of eternity coming down and things of this world appearing as nothing. A sense of the weight of eternity gives us great wisdom.

“Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and to let the knowledge of their failings as others; and to let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God” (Resolution 8).

I would imagine that many people, if asked to read this, would respond by saying that this is absurd. I am sure that from their worldview and theological perspective it is absurd, but is it really all that far off of they things should be? We know that Paul spoke of himself in this manner: “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (I Tim 1:15). The person that sees his or her heart in accordance with the Spirit’s work in convicting of sin and of Scripture cannot possible see another person as a worse sinner. I cannot know the depths of another person’s heart to the extent that I know my own. I know my own motives and intents and level of love or non-love far better than I can know another person’s. I know the thoughts and desires of my own heart better than those of other’s. While I know that each person will have all of his or her careless words brought into judgment, I should be able to keep track of my own better than any other individual. I have knowledge of far more past sins than I do of any other person. Therefore, each person that is not blinded by pride should see far more of his or her own sins than those of other people.

In a theoretical way, however, a person can deduce that others may commit far more sins than himself. But in a practical way, it is not possible to see the inward sin of others as much as my own. Another may violate the commands of God far more on the outside than I do, but I can’t be sure that the other person sins more than I do in the inward man. So Edwards is not really exaggerating in what he is saying in this resolution. While Edwards was known for his holiness in his time, that does not mean that he had the same opinion of himself.

A very helpful insight that Edwards gives in this resolution is on how to view ourselves when we see the sin of other people. When he says “to let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God,” this may sound absurd to some. However, within this statement is a very helpful insight to keep ourselves humble before God and to prevent our sin of being judgmental, For example, when we see another violate one of the Ten Commandments, we might want to judge that person very harshly. But we should always remember the Golden Rule which is to treat others as we want to be treated. When we are harsh with others we have forgotten our own outward and inward sin. First, we must remember that the real sin of each person is the sin of not loving God as the Greatest Commandment sets out. No matter what sin a person has committed, that person has violated the Greatest Commandment. I need to ask myself if I have loved God with all of my being. If the other person has lied, I need to examine my heart to see if I have refrained from lying because I love God or because I want to be proud of not lying. Have I deceived my own heart and tried to deceive God? Ah, all men are liars. Indeed the sins of others should give us great cause to mourn over our own sin as well as the sin of others.

Well, someone might say, I have never committed adultery. Fine, but have you really looked at the deeper meanings of the Seventh Commandment? Remember how Jesus used it in Matthew 5. This commandment goes to the heart and does not just regulate the physical behavior. The Scripture teaches us that to lust in the heart is to commit adultery. It also teaches us that in every sin there is a spiritual adultery against God. How many people have never lusted in their hearts? How many people have never strayed from God and so are guilty of spiritual adultery? I would dare say that all are guilty of violating the command against adultery. This means that when we hear of adultery, we should mourn in our own hearts for our own sin. We must let the sins of others show us our own hearts because pride blinds us to our own sin. We hate sin when it is in others, but usually find a good reason to commit it when we want to. Let us remember that as we look at the sin of others and see how wicked it is, in the eyes of God our own sin is far worse because He sees our sin as it is and is not blinded in any way to it. We should let the knowledge of sin in others promote shame in ourselves and provide the occasion for confessing our own sins to God. Instead of looking at the sins of others and allow that to be a cause of pride, let us look deeper and seek God so that it will be an occasion for our humility and contrition.

“Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live” (Resolution 6).
“Resolved, never to do anything that I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life” (Resolution 7).

These two resolutions actually fit together very well. Resolution 6 can be seen as the positive side in that he intends to live with all of his might in that he is going to pursue the glory of God with all of his heart. Resolution 7 can be seen as the negative side in that he resolves not to do anything at any point if he would be afraid to do it in the last hour of his life. How are we to think of this and is this something that the so-called average person should attempt to emulate? The following Scriptures seem to express these same thoughts.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 – Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

Jeremiah 29:13 – You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Matthew 6:33 – But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Romans 12:11 – not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

1 Corinthians 9:24 – Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

1 Corinthians 15:10 – But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Colossians 1:29 – For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Colossians 3:23 – Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

Ephesians 5:16 – making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

1 John 2:28 – Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

God has created man as an instrument through whom He would express His glory. Man, therefore, is to love God with all of his strength. This means that man must search for ways to live to the glory of God and exert himself and pant after God. To live with all of his might is simply to say that man should love God with all of his strength and pray and seek for the strength that comes from grace. In days of old we find men expending themselves for the glory of God and His kingdom. They crossed oceans when it was not very safe to do so. They went to foreign countries when this was not done and it was not safe to do so either. They stood and preached against sin in the midst of crowds of sinners. Some were said to have burned out in the service of the Lord. They devoted themselves and all their strength for their whole lives in the service of King Jesus and His glory.

What does it mean to do nothing but what you would be afraid to do the last hour of your life? I think that this points to a desire to be holy as He is holy. It is a realization that a person may die at any moment. It is the realization that a person does not want to stand in front of His King just after wasting the time of the King. It is the realization that we must answer to the King for our thoughts, motives, intents, and words. It is also, I think, the realization that all that we do is in the immediate presence of God anyway. Everything that I do is in the presence of God and it is nothing but a practical atheism to deny that (concept from Stephen Charnock). Every exertion of inner and outer strength is either for God or against Him. Every exertion that we do is done in His presence and He is aware of the innermost depths of it. I think that Edwards was simply trying to express that reality. If this generation is going to live to the glory of God, it must realize the same thing. Being lukewarm accomplishes nothing but sin and being spit out His mouth. Perhaps we should be more like Edwards in this.

Jonathan Edwards, Resolution 5:
“Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.”

Ephesians 5:16 tells us this: “making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (NAS) while the KJV renders it as “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The word “redeem” has the following meaning: “to make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good, so that zeal and well doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.” It would seem that Jonathan Edwards had Ephesians 5:16 in mind when he wrote this resolution. There are other verses as well:

Ecclesiastes 9:10 – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.”

Romans 13:11 – “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

Galatians 6:10 – “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”

Colossians 4:5 – “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.”

In thinking through this resolution of Edwards and the corresponding verses, we should be struck with the meaning and importance of life. We know that we will answer to God for our thoughts, intents, motives, and every word.
Will we also answer for every minute and perhaps second that we have on earth? The Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. That command (along with the Ten Commandments) has no time limit set. We are never commanded to keep these commandments except for certain periods of time. These commandments are in full force seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. Okay, but each of those hours has sixty minutes and each minute has sixty seconds. Do we want to break the seconds down into smaller units? The point, however, is that Edwards is not being over zealous when he resolves “never to lose one moment.” What does it mean to sleep more than we need? What does it mean to daydream? What does it mean to entertain ourselves with mindless games? Is it improving the time in the most profitable way to read novels? What about all the hobbies that people have? What about television and surfing the internet?

I am not trying to be legalistic in any way that the word is used, but this resolution of Edwards and the corresponding verses should force us to face up to how much time we misuse and do not redeem. What would happen if Christians began to redeem the time and began to focus all their time on doing what was best with it? What would happen if we began to focus our time on seeking the glory of God in all that we do and love Him with all of our beings? Would the world see a difference?

God has given each person a certain amount of time on earth. “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them” (Psa 139:16). If all the days are ordained by God, then that means that we will not live one day past the time He has ordained for us to live. How much of our time belongs to Him? How many breaths does He give us each day? We do not have one moment of time that we can call “our own.” All believers are bought by the blood of Christ and they are not their own. Believers are the love-slaves of the living God. Perhaps if we were serious about keeping the Great Commandment we would be more devoted to God. After all, all that we do that is not for His glory is sin since sin is falling short of His glory (Rom 3:23). We are also commanded to do, even eating and drinking, all to the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). Let us remember that God Himself is the true joy and pleasure of the believer. So what could entertain us more than Him? Could it be that our entertainments are actually idols? I am fairly sure that I know what Jonathan Edwards would say. But what does Scripture instruct us in the Great Commandments? May our consciences and lives be instructed by God’s Word.

Jonathan Edwards, Resolution 4:
“Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can possibly avoid it.”

This is a powerful resolution that is along the lines of I Corinthians 10:31, I Peter 4:11, and the Great Commandment. The wording of this resolution is intended to stress a universal statement that all things are to be done to the glory of God and that all that a person should do is to that end as well. This is truly a magnificent statement of a precise man in what he desires to do for that rest of his life. This is a statement that reflects a heart that has been captured and enraptured by the majesty and glory of God. This is not just a logical statement intended to produce an exhaustive statement, it is the statement of a glowing heart that does not want to leave any stone unturned in the pursuit of its love.

“Never to do any manner of thing” begins a statement that is the language of a precise man with a burning heart. Nothing is to be done in any way that is not to the glory of God. Some might want to limit what is done to the outward acts of the body, but not Edwards. He is including the soul as well. He knows that love for God must come from the inner man and can’t be limited to the actions of the body. He wants the intents of his heart and the motives for what he does to be done out of love for God’s glory. He wants those things that flow from his inner man to be desires and longings after the glory of God. The Great Commandment is certainly seen here in that he wants to love God with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength. Precision is here, yes, but also the longings of a heart that burns with love for the glory of God. It longs to be given over to Him and His glory and nothing else.

The next part of the statement is “less or more.” This is a rather fascinating aspect of this statement. In one sense it seems rather superfluous, but in another it shows how precise and loving the heart was that this statement came from. What can it mean to do nothing but that which tends to the glory of God, and be satisfied with neither less nor more? We can understand what it means to settle for less than the glory of God. It might mean to settle for the appearances of things rather than to truly desire His glory. It might mean to settle for something that does not really glorify God though it might be honorable and moral in the sight of men. Edwards did not want to settle for anything that was less than the glory of God. But what did he mean by more? I think that he is being exhaustive and realistic. There are many things in the world that people think that are far more important than the glory of God. There are times that things may seem to be moral and good, yet those things cannot be done if the glory of God is first and foremost. I conclude that the “more” part of the statement is really a reminder to himself that there is nothing better than the glory of God. Nothing can be done apart from the glory of God that is anything but sin. All that is done that is not to the glory of God is sin. By definition sin is a falling short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). How easy it is to get trapped into something that has the appearance of good but is not to the glory of God.

In reference to doing all to the glory of God, Edwards adds another little puzzle: “nor be, nor suffer it, if I can possibly avoid it.” What does the “nor be” add to this? I think that what he is saying here is an addition to what he said that he wanted to do. The first part of this resolution is that he did not want to do anything that was not to the glory of God. Now he does not want to be anything that is not to the glory of God. One can say that all that they do is to the glory of God, but what of what they are? Whatever one is in terms of their stature before others, work in life, or how they are in their heart must also be taken into consideration. Edwards did and he wanted all that he was to be to the glory of God as well.

He also did not want to suffer anything that was not to the glory of God (“nor suffer it”). This most likely refers to those around him. He wanted to see the glory of God in himself and others. He wanted to influence those around him that he would not have to suffer anything to be done that was not to the glory of God. All must be done to honor God if he could at all do it, be it, or influence others to it. This is a heart that breathed after God. It searched for language to be better able to express what it felt and loved. This may appear extreme to many, but not to those who have had a taste of the goodness of God. There is something in tasting of the glory of God that gives the realization that language cannot begin to express what the soul feels and knows. But the soul also knows that it must stretch itself and try so that it can pursue after God for His glory in that way.