More Edwards

Is there anyone out there who isn't into Jonathan Edwards yet? If not, why not? Is it because his writing tends to come in very big books with very small print (and very long 18th Century sentences)? Find some ways round that. Read aloud, read with others, read small chunks and discuss. But read! You will struggle to find Christian writing that is more thoughful, more full of God, more dynamic for your spiritual life and more relevant and up to date with the needs of believers and the church today.

Here is Edwards on the importance of worshipping and adoring God:

The internal acts and principles of the worship of God, or the worship of the heart, in love and fear, trust in God, and resignation to him, etc, are the most essential and important of all duties of religion whatsoever; for therein consists the esence of all religion.

But of this inward religion there are two sorts of external manifestations or expressions. To one sort belong outward acts of worship...

To the other sort belong expressions of our love to God, by obeying his moral commands, self-denial, righteousness, meekness, and Christian love, in our behaviour among men. The latter are of vastly the greatest importance in the Christian life; God makes little account of the former in comparison of them [emphasis mine]

Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the Revival, Section 3

Passions, delights and hopes

Paul tells Titus that we live in this world but with different passions, delights and hopes to this world. This gives us some obvious questions to ask. When faced, for example, with a voting decision we can say "how does my new hope relate to this?" When watching TV we ask "what does my new delight say about this?" When being offered a career option we can ask "what does my new passion for God have to say to my life ambitions?" In each case the underlying question is: what does redemption look like in this situation? What does it look like to belong to Jesus in this instance?
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