Jonathan Edwards' Life was About God

Jonathan Edwards is a "spiritual hero" of mine. He lived from 1703 to 1758, and God used him mightily in his relatively short life. His writings are a great inspiration, and most, if not all, are freely available online. I encourage anyone to make the effort to read what he has to say. I realize he writes in an older English, but labor to understand his words and you will be richly rewarded. I also encourage everyone to read John Piper's book long introduction to Jonathan Edwards, which too is freely available online from the Desiring God web site.
Jonathan Edwards, along with many other brothers and sisters in Christ, has helped reveal to me that life is about God, and given me a clearer vision of what it means that life is about God. His God ward life started in earnest at the age of 19,

"On January 12, 1723, I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down; giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future, in no respect, my own; to act as one that had no right to himself, in any respect. And solemnly vowed to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law for the constant rule of my obedience: engaging to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, to the end of my life."

It doesn't take long before one begins to feel overwhelmed by a man such as Jonathan Edwards. It is tempting to think that he was some sort of "special" Christian. We think, "That's great for him, but I'm just not that kind of a Christian... I'm not at that level." I must echo the words of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, who also encouraged people to, "Read part of the life of Jonathan Edwards,"

How feeble does my spark of Christianity appear beside such a sun! But even his was a borrowed light, and the same source is still open to enlighten me.

This is not to say we should beat ourselves up if God doesn't do all the great things through us that He did through Jonathan Edwards, or if we fail to achieve his incredible feats of self discipline. Indeed, Jonathan Edwards was, apart from Christ, just as much a sinner as any of us. It becomes clear throughout his writings that when he says he "gave up himself to God," he does not mean he earned anything with God. No, he understood that his heart was desperately wicked and, no matter how noble his efforts, he would always fall short of God's perfection. He understood that it is Christ and Christ alone who is our salvation, our righteousness, our hope, and our life. Jonathan Edwards "gave up himself" in faith. A faith that believes something to be real even when it is not visible or obvious. Yes, I am a sinner in myself, but in faith I see the reality of what I am in Christ. Look at his motive for such a radical decision. It was not to earn salvation or any stature before God, but rather, "to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness..." Our flesh deceives us into thinking happiness is, well, anything except Christ. But faith lives according to a reality that is not naturally seen: God is our happiness, our satisfaction, our delight, and our life. To "give up ourself," then, is to turn away from trying to find life in anything other than Christ, and instead turn to Christ alone in the faith that He is life. To turn away from relying on anything other than Christ alone. This is a "selfish selflessness". The only selfishness permitted for a Christian. It is the selfishness of pursuing the only thing that is more valuable than everything else as our one true joy and satisfaction: God Himself. Jonathan Edwards gave up himself in faith, knowing that apart from Christ any such effort was futile and laced in sin, but believing the reality that he was free in Christ to pursue the joy of the "law" because he was no longer condemned by the law.
We possess everything Jonathan Edwards possessed in Christ. There is no reason we cannot know God as Jonathan Edwards did! There is no reason we cannot come into the same relationship with Christ through faith. The point of this man's life wasn't what he accomplished, but Who he knew. Even so, I am grateful for what God did accomplish through him, for, because of his writings, he reaches 300 years into the future and beckons us to join him on this journey to see and know more of our wondrous God.