“Resolution # 1: I will live for God. Resolution #2: If no one else does, I still will.” -- Jonathan Edwards

                How did Jonathan Edwards become one of the most influential Christian leaders in our nation’s history? Was it his famous seventy resolutions that steered him to success? If so, what was it that made him unwavering in those commitments? How can I become as resolute about my goals as Jonathan Edwards was about his desire to live for God, even if no one else ever did?

                On my 40^th birthday, I got away for an extended time to seek the Lord about my future. I took with me the 50 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and read them carefully and prayerfully. As I did, I decided to use them as a template to develop my own “lifetime” resolutions. That was 17 years ago, and I am still referring to them over and over and over again. Some say that Jonathan Edwards read his “lifetime” resolutions on a weekly basis.

                Maybe I am a slow learner, because I have a long way to go in applying my resolutions on a daily basis. But what has been helpful in becoming resolute about them is a simple determination to succeed with an existing resolution before establishing a new one. In an era where “new” is perceived to be “better,” there is something to be said about completing the old.

                Tackling the old is not glamorous. But it is a key to success. To modify an old adage, “A job worth doing is worth doing well and worth finishing.” In college, the following simple phrase was pounded into me: “Finish the job!”  My educators knew it was easier to start a new job than to finish an old one. But not better. This is especially true when setting goals.

                So this year, I am racing back to evaluate last year’s resolutions, and the year’s before, and the year’s before that. In fact, I am going back for 17 years and asking God to help me “finish” my resolutions.

                One of the secrets to becoming resolute is to become public. There is something about others knowing my commitments that helps stimulate me to keep them. Accountability is more than a good concept. It is an eternal truth. We will all give an account.

                I don’t know if I have ever shared these publicly before, but the following are my “lifetime” resolutions. Perhaps they will encourage you to establish your own lifetime goals, with a determination to finish them.

15 Lifetime Resolutions