Jonathan Edwards and 5 Spiritual Habits for 2023
As the year starts, I find it useful to take stock of what spiritual disciplines are consistent in my life and what specific spiritual habits I need to grow in. Thankfully, I was able to open up the year reading an excellent essay/sermon by Donald S. Whitney on the spiritual disciplines of Jonathan Edwards. The essay is entitled “Pursuing a Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines” and it is published in the book “A God Entranced Vision of All Things.” If you can, give the essay a read as the year starts to get your mind thinking about developing good spiritual habits for 2023.
Today, I want to share my own takeaways and thoughts from reading this essay. Every time I read about how disciplined Johnathan Edwards was in his pursuit of the Lord and his use of time, I am humbled and motivated to become more disciplined myself. For the remainder of this article, I want to discuss five spiritual habits I want to focus on in 2023 based on reading about Jonathan Edwards.
Habit 1: Remembering it is the Spirit who bears the fruit
Every time I start thinking about spiritual disciplines, I tend to focus on the disciplines themselves rather than their purpose. It is easy to do: you and I live in a very pragmatic, check-the-box culture. The problem of importing that thinking into spiritual disciplines is you end up, as Whitney says, feeling that you can become automatically godly simply by doing different spiritual disciplines. For example, starting the year with the goal of reading through the entire Bible is a good discipline. However, the end goal should not simply be checking the daily reading boxes. Rather, the discipline is for the greater purpose of knowing God.
Any spiritual habits you and I want to develop in 2023 should all have a Godward focus and goal. The Holy Spirit is the one who bears fruit in our lives. You and I are dependent on God for the growth that can accompany spiritual disciplines and habits. So, resolve this year to not simply “add more boxes to check” in your spiritual disciplines. Resolve also to become more aware and dependent on the Holy Spirit to conform you to Christ.
Spiritual disciplines should grow our dependence on Christ, not make us feel more dependent on ourselves.
Habit 2: Having a Scripture to chew on throughout the day
If you are like me, there is always about three dozen moments each day when you are waiting on something. You might be in line at a store, stuck in traffic, or waiting for food to cook. The modern tendency (and Christians are far from immune) is to fill those “waiting moments” with entertainment or distraction. It is easier to pull out your phone to fill an empty moment than it is to redeem that time for God’s glory. Whitney makes the point that Edwards spent extensive time throughout the day not just reading Scripture, but meditating on Scripture.
What if after your morning quiet time or Bible reading you chose one verse or sentence to carry with you throughout the day? Instead of pulling out your phone during your quiet moments, you could pull out that verse or sentence and spend time thinking through it. What does it really mean? What are the implications? Are there any other Biblical verses that come to mind? I want to spend more time thinking deeply about Scripture like Edwards did this year, and I think this is a great habit to do just that. Pack a verse with you as you pack your lunch for work. Take a sentence from Jesus or Paul with you on your shopping trip. Let us fill our free moments in 2023 with truth instead of entertainment.
Habit 3: Praying at the “seams” of each day
Whitney in his article on Edwards spends several paragraphs discussing all the different times throughout the day that Jonathan Edwards prayed. It seemed very natural to Edwards to privately pray, much more natural than it is for myself or most people I know. Edwards prayed when he awoke, at breakfast with his family, before and during his studies, with his wife in the evening, and more. How are you and I to grow our spiritual habits of private prayer in 2023?
One pattern I noticed from Whitney’s communication of Edward’s private prayer was that Edwards prayed at each “seam” of the day. What I mean by “seam” is a transition from one activity to the next. You waking up is a “seam” because you are going from sleeping to waking. Arriving at work in the morning is a “seam” because you are transitioning from commuting to work to starting work. What if we let each seam or transition in our day trigger a reminder for us to pray? Oftentimes, the excuse I make for not praying more is “I get so busy that I forget.” Well, what if each time you used each transition from one task or one place to another as a reminder to pray?
Let the start or end of any task throughout your day remind you to pray.
Habit 4: Writing down more of my thoughts as I read and think
The sections in which Whitney describes Edwards’ journaling and writing were very insightful to read. Edwards wrote his own thoughts down as he studied and kept notebooks full of reflections on Biblical and theological topics. What struck me was the connection between reading, writing, and thinking for Edwards. I oftentimes treat these three as separate tasks: I either read OR I write OR I think. But perhaps one reason Edwards was such a deep thinking and profound writer was combining reading, thinking, and writing into one discipline.
Of all the spiritual habits I am mentioning for 2023, this might seem the most “un-spiritual“. But there is a really good practical lesson you and I can learn from Edwards here: write as you read and think. Don’t trust yourself to remember an insight from a Biblical text. Write it down. Our minds can only hold so much and we can quickly forget insights as fast as we get them. Perhaps a good way to think more deeply about Scripture and apply it more broadly to your life this year is to write down your thoughts on Scripture as you have them. Do your Bible reading and journaling at the same time. Get a notetaking Bible and fill the margins. That way, you can come back to them later and remember truths that the Lord revealed to you as you studied His word.
Habit 5: Prioritizing solitary time with the Lord
Edwards was able to develop a deep relationship with the Lord because he prioritized time alone with the Lord. If you read about his life, Edwards was a very busy man with a large family. But busyness and many responsibilities did not keep him from time alone with God. I realized as I read Whitney describing Edwards prioritization of solitary time with God that I am far too inconsistent with it myself. No matter how busy our schedules are, whether we have to wake up early or go to bed late, we can find time to spend with the Lord alone. The difficulty is actually doing it consistently.
In my own life, it is easy to prioritize sleep over time with God. The best time for me to seek the Lord is early in the morning but the tendency is to want to sleep right through that time. Certainly sleep is important, but is it more important than time alone with God? I am sure there will be ups and downs throughout the year, but I want to prioritize time alone with God as Edwards did.
The strength of Edwards was not found merely in his intellectual gifting. It was in the depth of his convictions which came from knowing the living God.
Conclusion
What spiritual habits are you going to develop in 2023? Each year brings new opportunity to grow to be more like Christ. Thankfully, God has left us many examples of godly men and women throughout history who have pursued Him and His glory. Let us learn from such examples what it means to seek and serve the Lord. Jonathan Edwards with his disciplined life is one such example. Even if you feel you can’t understand all his dense theological writing or if you can’t match his intellectual abilities, if you are a Christian than you can certainly imitate Jonathan Edwards in pursuing the Lord. Let us be more in prayer, more in Scripture, and more focused on Christ this year.
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