17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

Edwards aimed to live with the end in mind. He sought to meditate on his death bed (as morbid as that may sound) and ponder the life he will have hoped he'd lived once there. Based on the answer to that question he resolved to adjust his life accordingly. Any novice student of Edwards knows that he died young (due to a vaccination), but was extremely productive for the kingdom. The canon of his life demonstrates that he applied this resolution quite well.

This particular resolution makes me think of the Apostle Paul's commitment to strain forward toward Christ and the prize that awaited him:

12 Not that I have already attained,[a] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have [b]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV)

Paul pressed on for the gospel. Paul didn't dwell on the past so as to make himself ineffective for future ministry. Paul reached forward, toward his goal- the "upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Edwards did the same. Believer, examine your life, your schedule, how you spend your time. Are you making much of God with it?