5 Resolutions That Will Help You Live More Godly

Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan pastor who wrote a series of Resolutions which he tried to observe in order to stay on the right track of living a lifestyle of constant holiness.  He began each of those Resolutions with the word, “Resolved,” and the heading of the list began with the following reminder:

“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.”

I have recently written five of my own, as I have had my eyes opened to some significant holes in my daily walk (as a husband, a father, a minister, and an employee).

Rather than using the word, Resolved, I have begun mine with my pursuit of determination.  And here they are…

1.            Determined, to make the glorification of almighty God my very beginning, very middle and very end in every ministry He appoints me to, to every human relationship He grants unto me, and to every pursuit I put my hands to in this world, whether they be religious or not.

2.            Determined, I pray, to be the man that my wife and my children will grow up to admire and imitate.  To model the very person of Jesus Christ in my home before the eyes of my family.  To lead them, by God’s merciful grace, into a right relationship with their Creator and to witness their submission to the lordship of almighty God.  Then, to faithfully walk with them through a lifetime of sanctification, and to be a willing tool in the hand of God while He causes all this to be.

3.            Determined, to slay the beast called Pride who is relentless in its task to conquer and enslave me.  Only by yielding to God’s grace—through the daily hating of my sin and, conversely, loving my God above all else—will this be eternally possible.

4.            Determined, to refuse Laziness as a companion in any of my endeavors, whether they be religious or not.  To seize every moment of my day as if it were the eve of my death.  To substitute a submission to Laziness with a willing spirit to be godly to the end that everything I do will have eternal significance, knowing that one day soon I will certainly stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

5.            Determined, to ache for the precious souls of lost men, women and children.  To behold each of them—not merely as created objects going about their business and with whom I have nothing to do—but as eternally damned because they refuse to forsake sin and turn to Christ.  To lovingly—yet honestly—reason with them about the wrath to come and the importance of trusting in God with repentant faith.

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