Most try not to think about death. We push it to the margins of life, treating it as an interruption rather than a certainty. Youth, health, productivity, and plans all conspire to make us feel as though tomorrow is guaranteed. The result is not freedom, but distraction—lives lived lightly because eternity is kept far away.
Jonathan Edwards thought differently. He believed that remembering death was not morbid but merciful. In his ninth resolution, Edwards commits to think often of his dying and of the ordinary realities that accompany it. Death, for him, was a lens through which life could be lived wisely and God could be glorified rightly.
Resolved, to think much, on all occasions, of my dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
Jonathan Edwards
Numbering Our Days for the Glory of God
Edwards’ resolve echoes the prayer of Moses: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12). Scripture does not call believers to ignore their mortality, but to learn from it. Numbering our days is an act of wisdom that reorders our priorities.
When death is kept in view, trivial concerns lose their grip. Sin appears more serious. Time becomes more precious. Edwards understood that forgetting death leads to careless living, while remembering it cultivates seriousness before God. Sobering glory begins when we live as those who know our days are few and accountable to the Lord who gave them.
Living Seriously for the Glory of God
Thinking often about death presses urgency into daily obedience. James reminds us, “You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (Ja. 4:14). Life’s brevity is meant to awaken us. Edwards wanted his actions, words, and habits shaped by the reality that they would soon be finished.
This seriousness guards against procrastination in repentance and in obedience. A life lived with death in mind is a life that resists half-hearted devotion. Edwards’ resolve teaches us that spiritual negligence thrives where mortality is forgotten. Sobering glory forms believers who act today as they will wish they had acted when life draws to a close.
Preparing Faithfully for the Glory of God
Edwards also resolved to consider “the common circumstances which attend death.” This includes weakness, loss of control, and the stripping away of earthly comforts. Scripture reminds us that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). For the believer, this does not diminish hope—it sharpens it.
Preparation for death is preparation for meeting Christ. Paul could say, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21), because his life was already oriented toward glory beyond the grave. Edwards’ resolve calls believers to live now in light of what will matter then—faith, repentance, obedience, and hope anchored in Christ.
“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Eccl. 7:2). Resolved for sobering glory is living in clear-eyed readiness before God. It is a life awakened by mortality, ordered by wisdom, and ready to stand before the Lord with joy.
