Happy New Year!
Jeremiah 31:33-34 NIVUK
33 ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,’ declares the Lord.
‘I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbour,
or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,’
declares the Lord.
‘For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.’
In Christ we have a new relationship with God, a new covenant, like a marriage. God has committed to being our God, revealing himself to us and being faithful and gracious towards us. But what about us to him? He calls us to be faithful in and through Christ. As we start this new year, this is a great time to renew our commitment to him. The Methodist Church do this every year in their Covenant Service, using the words of the following challenging yet inspiring prayer. Can we could pray it too?
I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
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