I think resolutions can be a good thing, or a bad thing. The questions is, what is the purpose, for who’s glory? I have made a habit of reading Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions every year as the new year begins. I want to encourage others to do the same.This time around I was struck by his desire to not speak evil of anyone unnecessarily, and to consider his own sins when speaking to, and about, others. Here are a few examples:
8. 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 that I will 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.
31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.
70. Let there be something of benevolence [or good will], in all that I speak.
And so, with Edwards, I am resolving to put Ephesians 4:29 into practice:
- Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
My resolution: Resolved, to speak in a way that fits each situation I find myself in. In every situation to speak in a way that will build up whomever I am speaking to. To receive the grace of God, and to speak grace – in with grace and out with grace in my communications.
It’s a quick read, why don’t you read it for yourself HERE.
PS: I love resolution 15: ‘Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings.’ I think Edwards was maybe prone to get angry with his horse. I like the idea of striving not to get mad at inanimate objects, like a guitar that doesn’t agree with me or the door when I break my toe on it (like a did a couple of months ago).
