God’s plan for you and me in 2020
Happy New Year!
How many times have you said that so far these last few days? And does it feel like it? Does it feel happy and exciting … or a bit daunting and scary? Are you looking forward to opportunities or dreading the challenges? Are you expecting sadness or joy? Are you expecting to grow as a Christian, or are you stuck spiritually and simply hoping to get through the year?
The verses I come back to again and again every new year are these:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters”. (Romans 8:28-29).
This wonderful truth is a lifeline – that God is at work in every single thing that happens to you and me this year to conform us to the likeness of his Son, that is, to make us more like Jesus. In good times and bad, in plenty and in poverty, in sickness and in health, in the big things and the little things, God is working to make us like his perfect Son – full of love, full of joy, patient, kind, unselfish, calmly trusting in God the Father in every circumstance. Progress may be slow, but God is bigger and stronger than our self-pity, our apathy, our sin – so rejoice, God’s plan this year is good!
Andy Martin
Associate Minister
5th January 2020