by Pastor John Kim

Greetings to the LBC Family and Friends!!

Jonathan Edwards Resolution #37
Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent,- what sin I have committed,-and wherein I have denied myself;-also at the end of every week, month and year. (Dec. 22 and 26, 1722)

What are the last thoughts you have when you go to bed? I often am so exhausted by the time that I go to bed that I don’t even remember putting my head down. So it is all the more challenging to think how deliberate and purposeful it is that Edwards would put this resolution so as to make even his last moments of the day meaningful.

Negligence. This is not so much about what I did as much as what I didn’t do that I should have done. What I would have and could have and should have but simply didn’t. We might think we are busy but isn’t it amazing how often we find ourselves spending time on things that really are not relevant or important to what I should have accomplished for the day? Negligence is simply laziness. We easily make excuses as to why we couldn’t do things when it really is a matter of simply not wanting to do something. It’s the difference between “I can’t” versus “I won’t.”

You could call these the sins of omission. But right after this, Edwards addresses the sins of commission – “what sin I have committed.” It is something that we need to take more seriously as we are often quick to forget to address and confess our sins. Jerry Bridges, in his most recent book, “Respectable Sins”, challenges us to identify specific sins so as to address them. It is not enough to just give a sweeping attempt at confessing sin at the end of the day. We should give careful attention to evaluate our hearts and souls at the end of the day so that we could go to sleep with a clean conscience.

The last thing Edwards addresses is “wherein I have denied myself.” To follow Christ is to live a life of self-denial. When Jesus calls someone to follow Him, it is the way of the cross, the path of suffering, the road where the trials and challenges of life are embraced with joy because they draw us to desperately depend on Christ alone.

It is good to do some self-evaluation, Edwards not only did it every night, he added the extra efforts of doing it at the end of every week, every month, and every year. It is no wonder that his life was so disciplined until the end as his focus was clear and singular when it came to why he was living. He was living for the glory of God, nothing else. Christ alone was the precious pearl, which he was willing to give up all that he owned to have as His own. When you read his writings, you can’t help but see a mind that was enthralled with the majesty and sovereignty of God in relation to all matters.

I hope that this year as we celebrate “In Christ Alone” that we would really seek after this kind of mentality and heart attitude. It is humbling and self-denying in nature – we are to come meek in spirit and with a broken and contrite spirit that would then draw us to the glory of the cross, to fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith, and to run the race with endurance until the end.

In His grace,
Pastor John