Understand that you belong entirely to God
While Edwards served at the Presbyterian Church in New York, he experienced a solemn renewal of the promises he had made at his baptism. This devotion to God involved all aspects of Edwards’s being: “I cannot discuss this understanding, this will, these affections that reside in me in any way; and I am not entitled to this body, nor to any of these members: I have no right to that language, these hands, or those feet; I’m not entitled to these senses, those eyes, those ears, that smell or that taste. Have I completely abandoned me? I was with God this morning and I told him I gave myself completely to him.
- This period of personal devotion to God had a profound impact on Edwards.
- At the same time.
- Edwards preached a sermon on “consecration to God.
- “Was offering ourselves to God the “greatest of all the duties of a Christian.
- “The most compelling reason for Edwards’ devotion to God was that if you give yourself to God.
- He will give himself to you.
- Too.
- You give yourself to him to be your servant; Will he give himself to you to be his part and his perpetual joy.
- And therefore you will be sure of eternal glory.
- By the infinite origin and source of eternal glory that already belongs to you?.
This understanding that he was who completely belonged to God provided Edwards with a solid foundation for certainty and security. At one point in his sermon, did he proclaim that those who were totally devoted to God?Can you be sure of your love and favor, some of your addresses in all its ways, sure that no evil will happen to you, sure that everything that happens to you is for your good?Edwards realized that the confidence that God in Christ works everything for our salvation allows us to rest and rest peacefully and safely in the midst of storms and storms, without any fear, knowing that you are in God’s hands where nothing can hurt you. ?/ 069]
With all your? Fighting violently for holiness, Edwards sometimes seemed to demonstrate the temptation to acquire holiness through works rather than grace. His diary was filled with reprehensible reminders that his spiritual condition depended on selflessness in eating, drinking, and sleeping; who did not use his time correctly for the glory of God; and that he needed to devote even more time to prayer in private. As he concentrated on these self-sacrifice exercises, staring at his eyes inside, Edwards’ pious feelings declined and increased.
During a period of two weeks at the end of 1722, his spirituality was from extreme to extreme; such a record occurred throughout his journal, marking his spiritual temperature. By engaging in this introspective spirituality at this stage of his life, Edwards seemed to combine his passionate search for God’s glory with righteousness before God. [10]
To be fair, in his best moments (or moments of frustration with his rigorous spiritual practice) Edwards recognized that his sanctification could only progress through the work of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, Edwards renewed his baptismal covenant and surrendered to God again, and also confessed in his journal that? I have discovered from experience that, whether I make resolutions and do what I want with inventions, this is all nothing, and it is completely aimless, without the movements of the Spirit of God. 0611]
In addition, Edwards later acknowledged that his constant self-examination and holiness planning were taking place, with too much dependence on my own strengths; that in the end, it was a great pity for me?As he followed his Christian life, Edwards learned two things: “My extreme weakness and helplessness, in all areas; and the innumerable and aamal depths of secret corruption and deception, which was in my heart?. The only real solution to the remaining sin was not the struggle of the will, but “a fuller and more constant sense of God’s absolute sovereignty, and a pleasure in that sovereignty?”[and] more than a sense of Christ’s glory, as a mediator, as revealed in the gospel?. If Edwards were to progress in the Christian life, it would be only through the work of the Spirit of God, motivated by the wonderful grace of God and rooted in the glorious gospel of God. . [12]
[10] Daily, December 21, 1722; December 22, 1722; December 24, 1722; December 29, 1722; January 1, 1722-23; January 2, 1722-23, all are located in Ibid. , 759-60.
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