It's a new year. It's customary to make resolutions and commit oneself to doing better, in various ways, than the previous year. Arguably, the greatest theologian produced by the United States was Jonathan Edwards, and one of the things he is noted for is his set of resolutions. As depicted at the website called 'A Puritans Mind' (http://www.apuritansmind.com/ChristianWalk/ResolutionsOfJonathanEdwards.htm), they go something like this (these first few were among the first 25 to have been written in one sitting on one evening in 1722):

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad's of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the aforementioned things.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

And so it goes for another 62 resolutions. They make good fodder for meditation.

Notice that Edwards focuses on the glory of God, and more specifically on his desire to glorify God. I think that relates to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, written in the 1640s, in which the first order of business reads as follows:

Question. 1. What is the chief end of man?

Answer. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

I have always found it fascinating that the task of mankind-glorifying God-would be linked to our enjoyment. Somehow it is enjoying to glorify God? Really? Does that mean that I'm falling flat if I attend church and feel bored out of my skull, angry at deceptive errors in the teaching, observe or commit flagrant acts of unkindness and prejudice, or observe or manifest a lack of caring for others? These things can't be glorifying God, can they?

I think we glorify God when we reflect His nature and when we are transparently lacking in our own. Most people think religion, Christianity in particular, is about rules for how we should behave, and if we follow the rules, then God is pleased with us. I don't see it that way.

For instance, it's not that committing unloving actions glorifies God; what glorifies God is that while being unloving, we recognise that we fall short and we admit that to ourselves and others before God. To agree with God about our behaviour glorifies God.

As for enjoying God, it can come in the strangest of situations. My wife and I drove down to Warwick Long Bay this last Sunday, while the wind was blowing and the rain fell in spots. We sat in the car drinking tea and watching the waves and the clouds. It was a moving piece of art. We read from Psalm 119 and I realised that David enjoyed contemplating the Word of God, God's precepts, His laws, just like I often enjoy what God does in nature. When I look at creation, for instance the central nervous system, and when I contemplate its intricacies, I begin to see the interdependent structure of its systems-within-systems, and that's when I say in my heart something like, "Wow". It's a hushed expression. I am at that moment in awe, and also I am filled with an aesthetic appreciation that I find pleasurable. I admire God's beauty.

Now, David got that from contemplating God's Word, and I can get that by sitting at the beach, but I can also get it watching people move in groups through the subway (which is because I view people as part of creation, and, being a psychologist, I am fascinated by what we do – how we behave).

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him

And the son of man that you care for him?

Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty! (Psalm 8: 3-5)

So, it's a new year, and I resolve to be on short accounts with God, to be open before Him and available to Him. I resolve to enjoy God more by meditating on His Word – the living Word of God in the person of Jesus, and the written Word of God in the texts of Scripture. I resolve to continue in my quest to finish well in this life and to run the race set before me with endurance, but that's probably as much as I can handle, because I also resolve to own up to my failings, which are many, and my inadequacies, which are obvious to those who know me.

Here we go, 2010!