1 Peter 1:3-9

1 Peter 1:3-9 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 For a long time, I've looked down on New Year's resolutions.  Maybe I've been unwilling to admit to some of the changes I need to make, or perhaps it just seems cooler to shun them.  There's certainly nothing that says I need to wait until New Year's to make changes, so it would be easier to change something in the moment at which I realize that it needs to be changed...
  But maybe this year is different.  I do need to change -- I'm born again to a living hope, and if that hope is living, then it needs to be constantly pushing on me, prodding me, helping me grow.  Jesus talks about pruning those he loves, and there are areas of my life that I comfortably ignore, due to routine or busy-ness or other reasons. 
  So I'm going to be praying for God to show me how to change over the next few days, in the hopes of turning over some new leaves on January 1.  I know and trust that God is guarding us for our salvation, and that our inheritance is kept imperishable, so I have nothing eternal to fear, and that I am born again only through God's mercy, so my changes aren't about earning more of God's love.  Rather, it's about learning how to rejoice with joy and offer praise, glory, and honor to God in my victories and the trials.  I long for a faithful life that seeks God in all things, and I hope that God will show me some small steps I can take in 2020.
  Will you join me in these prayers, that God may show you what your next step is?