“Resolution one: I will live for God. Resolution two: If no one else does, I still will.”
One of the most influential American preachers in history, Jonathan Edwards was born in Connecticut on October 5, 1703. His father, Timothy Edwards, was a preacher; his mother Esther was a preacher’s daughter. The Edwards family loved to serve God.
Jonathan Edwards was the fifth and only son in his family of eleven children. He loved to study, and wrote his first Gospel tract at age 10. His favorite subject in school was history. When he was 12 years old, he wrote a published essay on the habits of the flying spider. Also, right around that time, he became a student at Yale University! He graduated at the top of his class and spent the next two years studying the Bible and preparing for the ministry.
At age 23, he was ordained to preach and made it his personal rule that he would study the Bible no less than thirteen hours every day. He married Sarah Pierrepont, and God gave them twelve children.
In the 1730s, God worked a wonderful revival in people’s hearts. Edwards continued to preach. Soon, by God’s grace, what came to be known as the first “Great Awakening” was spreading throughout the country.
Jonathan Edwards is especially famous even among unbelievers for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and its ongoing influence over time. The sermon focused on the subjects of hell and God’s judgment; when he preached it, the church people became so convicted they fell into the aisles and wept. Edwards wasn’t sensational or pushy in his sermon delivery. He just preached God’s message from a handwritten manuscript. He was used greatly by God during the Great Awakening. He also wrote over 60,000 pages in his lifetime and led countless souls to genuine faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Jonathan Edwards was devoted to the study of God’s Word and was resolved to live rightly before Him, no matter what. Do you make resolutions and try to honor God with how you spend your time? Are you praying for God to increase your love for and understanding of His Word?
2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.