What to read: I Timothy 4:7-8
Title: What were you thinking about when you were a teenager?
During the earliest days of our country’s existence, in fact, before it was even a country, the American colonies were home to many godly pastors who were hard at work preaching the Gospel and teaching the citizens of the colonies the word of God.
It was on October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Conn, that Jonathan Edwards was born, the son of Pastor, Timothy and Esther Edwards. Young Jonathan soon found himself surrounded by 10 sisters; four of whom came before him, and six, who came after him, making him the only son of what came to be identified by the townsfolk— because of his sister’s average height of six feet— as Timothy’s sixty feet of daughters.
Jonathan was a gifted child and progressed easily through his father’s rigorous home schooling and came to receive Jesus Christ as his savior early in his life. From very early on, he was concerned about his relationship with God; at times, he worried about the possibility that he was not converted. His diary provided him the tool for examining what God had done in his life and “The Resolutions” became guidelines for charting his future course to live for Christ. Written as he approached his nineteenth birthday, “The Resolutions, were a series of instructions for life and guidelines for personal examination; both of which he intended to pursue on a daily basis. These Resolutions were one of two great interests in Edwards’ young life.
The second area of young Edwards’ interest was the physical world around him. He was fascinated with the star-studded sky and God’s bountiful display laid out in the creation before him. As he walked daily in the densely wooded New England countryside, he would spend hours contemplating the intricacies of a spider web or the wonders of creation all around him.
Edwards entered Yale College at age thirteen, later graduated with a Master’s degree, and was eventually called to pastor one of the largest churches in New England: The Puritan Church at Northampton, Massachusetts.
But his curiosity and delight in the Person of God, his works, and his world, lingered long beyond his teenage years.
Questions to think about:
How do we spend our free time? Is there any value in setting aside time each day to think about the wonders of creation and take notice of the specifics of it?
Do you think God is interested in the development of our godly curiosity?
Are we spending time daily, progressing in our spiritual life? Have we set any goals (Resolutions) that might further our spiritual life? Phil.4:8; Ephesians 5:15-17.
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