Auld Lang Syne, Resolutions and all that...

Right, so I know it is almost the last day of January so forgive me for posting about New Years resolutions so late into the start of the year...think of it as grace if you haven't started yours yet!!!

2016 will be a big year for me, not only do I turn 30 but my family has a number of BIG -0 birthdays (20, 60, and 70) this year!!!!  So much has already happened since January 1st and most of my resolutions are either under way or planned, the only thing left was restarting my blogging with a little more intentionality.  This year I have a plan to read and blog on every resolution of Jonathan Edwards.  There are 70 so I am going to have to make my posts be of a more rapid secession!  So let's get started...

"1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether no, or never so many myriads of ages hence.  Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general.  Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever."

I do better with lists...Here's how I read that, I should do what is:

1. most to God's glory
2. most to my own good, profit, and pleasure
3. throughout my whole life
4. without considering how much time I have left to live
5. my duty
6. most to the advantage of mankind 
7. disregarding any difficulties, no matter how great

That is a looooong list to check off for everything we do and it probably sounds like some of those things contradict each other right?!  But if we look further at what God has to say about His glory and our happiness and His creation we see it is all tied together and no part excludes another.  Here are just a few examples...

1. His Glory:

• "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit" ~2 Corinthians 3:18
• "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth." ~Psalm 108:5
• "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name's sake." ~Psalm 79:9
• "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake." ~Psalm 23:1-3

2, 5. Our Duty & Our Good, Profit, and Pleasure:

• "Rejoice in the Lord alway, again I will say Rejoice!" ~Philippians 4:4
• "Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" ~Psalm 32:11
• “But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.” ~Psalm 5:11
• “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great…” ~Matthew 5:12

5, 6. Our Duty & Advantage of Mankind:

• "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” ~Matthew 22:37-39
• “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ~John 13:34-35 
• “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.” ~1 John 3:23
• “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” ~1 Thessalonians 4:9

3, 4, 7. Throughout Life, Disregarding Time Left, and Disregarding Difficulty:

• "...And because of this I rejoice.  Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me." ~Philippians 1:18-26
• "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:33
• “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” ~Romans 5:1-5

In these verses we see the thread of God weaving together the goals of His glory, our happiness, care of His creation, and doing all this without worry of what is dealt us in this life.  With our eternal life secure in Christ's saving work on the cross we gain the ultimate gift, God Himself, and therefore we do not worry about missing out on anything in this life and focus on loving God and loving others.  Our happiness flows out of our eternal hope, so even when we are brought low or sorrowful we can still rejoice and be glad because our soul has a firm foundation and we know this life is only temporary!  So be glad, even when life is hard and seems unbearable, cry out to God with thanksgiving that soon you will be with Him and will have no crying or pain forever!!!

Jonathan Edwards also wrote an essay called The End for Which God Created the World where he addressed God's ultimate goal for creation (spoiler alert, it is to bring Himself glory).  John Piper wrote God's Passion for His Glory as both a reprinting of Edward's work and an explanation of the significance of that work.  You may already be familiar with Piper's famous line, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" which also ties in these themes.  This is not to say that we will not struggle or go through trials or have sadness in this life, but that our ultimate happiness is secure in knowing we are saved for an eternal relationship with the God of the universe!!!

It is endlessly interesting and humbling to learn how much God is interested in giving us the best He has for us! We already get Him so it can't really get better, but then He is intentional to give us exactly what is the ultimate good for us in His perfect and sovereign time to meet His ultimate goal of glorifying Himself!!!

In case you want to read more here are a few articles from John Piper about our happiness and God's glory:

• Does God Want Me To Be Happy or Holy?
• Why You Happiness Is So Important to God
• God Is Most Glorified In Us When We Are Most Satisfied In Him