by Pastor John Kim

Greetings to the LBC family and friends,

Jonathan Edwards Resolution #52
I frequently hear persons in old age, say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. (July 8, 1723)

As I was lying in the emergency room a couple of weeks ago due to chest pains, the thought passed through my mind that there are many who enter a hospital never to leave again alive. I’m sure there are many who would have this thought go through their mind – do I have any regrets? I don’t know if there are too many people who would have absolutely no regrets but I am sure that there are many who would have severe regrets as to how they lived.

This is a very keen insight by someone who was only 23 or so at the time e wrote this resolution. Edwards was thinking ahead to the day when he would be of old age and very deliberately did not want to have to hear himself say that he would have lived differently in light of having done things that he would regret. How often have we caught ourselves saying, “If I only didn’t make this choice” or “I wish I could just hit rewind and start over.”

The problem is not so much that we feel this way as it is that we could very purposely avoid making the kind of choices that we know are unwise, foolish, and otherwise blatantly sinful. While we cannot control all of the circumstances we face in life, we can definitely do something about the kind of choices that we deliberately make. It is often an unwise choice that causes the kind of circumstances that we regret. An unkind word. A conflict left unresolved. Time wasted pursuing vain things for myself. Putting off the opportunity to spend time with people. Being too busy with things that aren’t eternal. Not sharing the gospel when you could have. Being too nitpicky about petty issues. Complaining. Gossiping. Not stepping up when there was a need. Not spending enough time with your spouse enjoying each other. Missing another one of your kids soccer games. And the list goes on and on and on.

Instead of being filled with regrets, be resolved to minimize how much you would like a “reset” and be able to say that you did what you wish you could have done and if God is gracious enough to give you many years, when you look back, hopefully you can say like Jonathan Edwards did that you lived a full life up to that point.

Edwards surely made the most of his 50+ years on earth. While he might have had some regrets (being human like us), I can’t help but think that there were not so much regrets so much as there was more that he would have wanted to do for the sake of the kingdom of God.

I hope that the end of your life will not find you filled with regrets. So start now. You might die tomorrow. You might die 50 years from now. But whenever your time comes, I hope that you can say that you did your best to live up to this resolution.

In His grace,
Pastor John