Four Ways Teenagers Live for More

I'm on desiringGod today with a new article for teens. Perhaps you'd like to check it out!


As teenagers, life feels so big, doesn’t it? Like a canvas that stretches into outer space, it bubbles over with potential. We have so much to do and so many places to see. I’m 18, and I often wonder how God will use me in his vast story.

As Jesus-followers, the last thing we want to do is waste this life. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always resonated so deeply with the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), a man committed to pursuing holiness for his whole life, a conviction that began as a teenager.

Of the seventy resolutions that Edwards wrote between the ages of 19 and 20, my favorite is number six: “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.” Short. Simple. Profoundly urgent. This was his teenage version of carpe diem for the glory of God, a call to his young soul to seize life with purpose and passion. I love that.

But some days I wonder how to do that. What exactly does it look like to live with all my might as a teenager for the glory of God? As I’ve studied Scripture and learned from Jonathan Edwards, I’ve found four answers that have been especially helpful.