Thoughts on Jonathan Edwards's "Religious Affections": Day 1

After hearing so many highly-respected people, both still living and not, highly-recommend Jonathan Edwards's "Religious Affections", I decided I would try to read it. Well, on the first day, I did not get very far before I was overwhelmed by my own thoughts and reflections. So then, without further adieu, here are Day 1 Thoughts.

Edwards starts by quoting 1 Peter 1:8. For some context, and because he later refers to the previous two verses, here is the entire passage:

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,"

The surest way, Edwards says, "to distinguish true religion from false" is to observe the trials a particular person is experiencing and then observe the response to trials that person exhibits. (p.236) Even in myself, as I ponder, the trials I have been through, I can see the outcomes I have experienced and am confident, in the Lord and by his grace, that my belief is true and my faith is sure. Edwards also points out that the end result of trials in a believer's life should "praise and |glorify| and honor" Jesus Christ. (p.236)

As followers of Christ we are promised that we will experience sufferings, trials, and tribulations in this world - John 16:33; James 1:2-3, 12; 1 Peter 4:12. However, we often fail to realize this is to, not just our own advantage, that we may see the genuineness of our faith, but it is to the ultimate advantage of an unbelieving world that is desperate for a faith that is more valuable than the purest gold. (p.236)

Thankfully, converting the world is not up to us; if it were, what miserable creatures we would be, realizing our faithlessness has caused the world to not believe. No, our responsibility is not conversion, but preparing ourselves, through (the) spiritual discipline(s), to have a faithful response to sufferings and trials when they come. And they will come. Let's face it, though. As Americans, the most materially blessed people ever, a people constantly inclined and well-trained to seek comfort and avoid pain, our sufferings and trials are often no where near the kinds of persecutions the early believers, Peter's audience in his first epistle, experienced. Nor are they even close to what most new believers the world over are now experiencing. (I am, purposefully, speaking in generalities, because generally this statement is true; no doubt, there are real medical sufferings American believers experience, etc. I even have a friend that was fired for sharing his faith. In America, though, that is about the worst they can do to you - at least, my friend was not imprisoned.)

We can prepare ourselves for sufferings and trials by clinging fast to Christ, as revealed in God's Word. This is important: "as revealed in God's Word," because it is the consistent reading of His Word that feeds our souls, engages our mind, and comforts and encourages our hearts - Romans 15:4. This is, of course, not to say that if we don't "cling to Christ" we lose our salvation. However, if someone who professes belief is not currently clinging, then he is either disobedient (i.e. not reading the Word, not praying, not in fellowship with other believers, etc., etc.) or he is not truly a believer. There is no middle ground. We must be consistent and disciplined in our pursuit of Christ - who is the fount of all knowledge and wisdom, and we must be rigid in our intake of His Word - which lights our way in this world.