Sunday.....Christianity.....A New Year

Jonathon Edwards lived from 1703 to 1758. It has often been said that he was America's premier theologian/philosopher and some have said that his was the most brilliant mind America produced in the 18th century! He would ride his horse through the countryside, thinking, and attaching pieces of white paper with a pin to his clothing as ideas came to his mind. It's said that, at times, it would look as if he were in a snowstorm at the end of his ride. He was one of those, along with Benjamin Franklin, that relied on personal resolutions, 70 of them to be exact, that he would go over once a week to see if he had remained on course. They are published in pamphlet form today and my son has a copy of them beside his bed. I rely on resolutions. I've used them sparingly to take them more seriously. Often I think of new resolutions at this time of year, thus the topic of this blog. I have four days left on a resolution I started January 1st but I want to be a little bit bolder this year. Diet is one of them. My goal to be the exact physical specimen that Charles Spurgeon is not popular in my family. I need to keep my big mouth shut for I have a tendency to purposely be contrarian. For example, I was with some friends the other day and they were talking about the nuisance of the smell of cigarette smoke. There just seems to be more important things to be concerned about in this day and age than this. My comment was If they made after shave in the aroma of cigarette smoke I would buy a bottle. I would like to go an entire year without saying the name Hillary (impossible!). I need to pay more attention to the micro elements of personal finances as opposed to the macro element. There are other more serious things that I hope to be considering over the next few days. How about you? If you researched your local Christian radio station, many of you would find R. C. Sproul's Renewing Your Mind, or John MacArthur's Grace To You available to listen to every day before work, or the White Horse Inn once a week. A book a month would be helpful. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress would be a good start. Some other suggestions of mine are:

Michael Horton's Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace (salvation)
R. C. Sproul's Grace Unknown (Reformed Theology)
John MacArthur's Ashamed Of The Gospel (heterodoxy)
Iain Murray's The Forgotten Spurgeon (Calvinism)
George Marsden's Fundamentalism And American Culture (history)
D. G. Hart's Defending The Faith (about J. Gresham Machen)
William Gurnall's The Christian In Complete Armour (3 paperback volumes)
Ken Myers All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes (culture)
Harry Blamires The Christian Mind
Peter Jones Pagans In The Pews (contemporary problems in the church)
Arthur Bennett's Valley Of Vision (Puritan prayers, I highly recommend saying one daily)

You might want to consider changing to the Reformation Study Bible for a source of commentary.


Familiarise yourself with a ministry and support it. Three suggestions would be:
Sproul's http://www.ligonier.org/
MacArthur's http://www.gracetoyou.org/
Michael Horton's http://www.whitehorseinn.org/

We don't know what a day will bring, let alone a year! One thing appears certain and that is that Christians will need increased discernment in the year to come. I need drastic improvement and I assume that there are many others in the same boat. Here are some resolutions of mine, some in force for some time, some recent, and some brand new:

Resolve, never to think that a valuable book is only to be read once.
Resolve, to keep Press On as my motto.
Resolve, never to let failures discourage to the point that I stop trying.
Resolve, to examine myself on a daily basis (refer to the previous resolution)
Resolve, remember that humility and pride are two sides of a card that is always on the table.
Resolve, to observe and learn from the lives of others.
Resolve, to pray exceedingly for discernment in my speech. (new)
Resolve, never forget past sins, for forgiveness of them is the source of overwhelming gratitude.
Resolve. pray for every person walking a highway (no transportation) for I was once there.
Resolve, to pray for every ambulance that speeds by with it lights flashing.
Resolve, to consider weekly whether this blog has any value or if it is detrimental in any way.