Leader's Insight: Resolutions or Prayer

A leadership development group my wife, Gail, and I lead spent an evening last week studying the influence of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, New Englanders who lived in Northhampton, Mass. (where Jonathan was pastor, c. 1740). In the course of our conversation someone mentioned the resolutions that Edwards had written during his young adult years—brief, pithy statements that he hoped would serve as guides and reminders to him about the conduct of his own Christian life.

Going to my library, I found Edwards’s Resolutions in a copy of his “Basic Writings” edited (years ago) by Ola Elizabeth Winslow. Reading through them (there are 70 of them in my book) did not take long. Understanding and appreciating them did.

Some resolutions seem rather austere such as, Resolved: Never to utter any thing that is sportive, or a matter of laughter, on a Lord’s day (December 23, 1772). Another, Resolved: Never to do any thing out of revenge (undated). And a third, Resolved: To maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking (also undated). I wonder what Jonathan would think about Sunday afternoon football or an evening at the Macaroni Grill?

In this group, I mentioned we use the word intentionality quite a lot. To us the word describes a certain deliberateness about life that is important for any person of influence. We say to each other that one’s behavior, one’s thoughts, one’s core convictions must be consciously, regularly considered and (because we’re Christ-followers) brought into alignment with Christ. The opposite of intentionality could be compliance or aimlessness—as in going with the flow, letting circumstances and situations be your guide.

Edwards’s resolutions fit his time and his challenges. Some of them seem overly harsh, too enthusiastic. He does set the bar unbelievably high. But the resolutions are the work of a young man who seems to crave everything sainthood might offer.

Many of the resolutions (despite their old English) freshen my own spirit: “Resolved: Not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness, and benignity.” I could have used that one a couple of weeks ago when someone said … (well, you don’t want to know). Or this one: Resolved: To examine carefully and constantly what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

One more:Resolved: To confess frankly to myself all that which I find in myself, either infirmity or sin; and, if it be what concerns religion, also to confess the whole case to God, and implore needed help.

I really like Jonathan Edwards and his intentions, even if he’s light years ahead of me in intellect and depth of spirit. Each of us would do well to write out our own intentions. Here’s one of mine: Resolved: To be a listener whose hearing takes in not only words but all the agonies and aspirations in the heart of the one who speaks.

This past month I had the privilege of meeting Jonathan (another Jonathan!) Aitken, the biographer of Chuck Colson. He honored me with a gift of the Colson book. It took me just two days to read it … and love it. This is not cosmetic treatment of a man. It is a serious treatment of a man’s life, both failures and successes, and how God converts a man into a treasure. You cheat yourself if you do not read it.

Oh, by the way, for all of those who corresponded with me about the renaming of churches: thank you. I’ve learned a lot from you. And I’ve come to believe in the value of occasional name-changes. They happen occasionally in the Bible, you know. Our church leaders think they’ve found a good new name. I’ll tell you about it later on after all of us New Englanders have approved of it (which could be several years, he said with a knowing smile).

An old friend, Dr. Archie Parish, sent me a copy of his book entitled A Simple Way to Pray which features the words of Martin Luther on “life and wisdom.” On page 15, Parish quotes Fredrick Hieler on Luther: “After Jeremiah, Jesus, and Paul, the German reformer is indeed the most powerful among the eminent men who had a genius for prayer.” And then Parish goes on, “Luther spent much of his time in prayer. The historical records show that Luther prayed four hours each day. Helmut Thieliche wrote, ‘Luther prayed this much, not despite his busy life, but because only so could he accomplish his gigantic labors … To work without praying and without listening means only to grow and spread oneself upward, without striking roots and without creating an equivalent in the earth. A person who works this way is living unnaturally.'”

Between Edwards’s resolutions and Luther’s prayer, you can see why both men ascended into a greatness for God which was far beyond image-control and publicity-hype. Which shall I do next? Resolve or pray?

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