Resolved to Glorify God in Everything
Happy New Year, my friends! May 2022 be a great year for you and your families, and I believe it will be if we have our eyes fixed on God.
Now, most people like to make some New Year's resolutions to try to get some focus for the year, which is a great idea. I thought I would use Jonathan Edwards’ resolutions this year.
Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions
He was a young, serious Christian in the 1700s and at the age of 19 wrote a whole list of resolutions which he would look over once a week just to see how he was doing.
After the initial 21, he kept adding to them until he had about 70. Some of them are a bit strange, but some of them are very good. And so I'm going to use five of them as my resolutions for the year, and I'll share them with you this week.
Living for God’s Glory
I want to start by looking at his resolution #4, which says: “Resolved, never to do anything, whether physically or spiritually, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God.”
In other words, I'm resolved to not do anything that doesn't glorify God. I'm resolved to only do things that bring God glory. So a very general resolution, but I think it's a great one.
It makes me think of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:23. He said, “I have the right to do anything,” some of you say, “but not everything is beneficial. Not everything is constructive.” And then a few verses later in 1 Corinthians 10:31, he says: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Maybe that can be your verse of the year. This year, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. What a wonderful way to live your life.
Everyday Worship
And you know, much of the time we think of very religious things when we think of things that glorify God. And those are good to do. It's good to worship together at church. It's good to read your Bible and pray. Those are important, but are you going to eat to the glory of God? Are you going to walk to the glory of God? Sleep to the glory of God? Is your everyday living and breathing going to glorify God?
I really like the way that Eugene Peterson paraphrases this in The Message Bible, where he says: “As a matter of fact, do everything heartily and freely to God's glory.” And so I think this is a great resolution for us as we start our year. Let's do everything we do heartily and freely to the glory of God, and I know it's going to be a special year if that's the way we live.
