“I am no longer my own, but thine”
Daily Scripture
Exodus 19:5-6; 1 Peter 2:5-7, 9-10
United Methodists traditionally pray John Wesley’s Covenant prayer to greet the New Year. We’ll explore the biblical foundation for this prayer’s themes. You can study the prayer more deeply with Chris Folmsbee’s book The Wesley Prayer Challenge Participant Book, published by Abingdon Press. The book has resources for group and individual study. It’s available at the Well Bookstore (https://thewell.cor.org/) or in a Kindle version. Click here for a printable pdf of the entire prayer.
Exodus 19
5 So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. 6 You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.”
1 Peter 2
5 You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Thus it is written in scripture, Look! I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, chosen, valuable. The person who believes in him will never be shamed [Isaiah 28:16]. 7 So God honors you who believe. For those who refuse to believe, though, the stone the builders tossed aside has become the capstone.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. 10 Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
In the medieval church, clergy—from priests to popes—were considered spiritually and legally superior to “lay people.” Scripture led John Wesley and other reformers to reject this hierarchy. Martin Luther taught that God gave “the precious keys” to heaven to all believers through baptism, calling forgiven sinners “the priesthood of all believers”—a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) not reserved for ordained clergy alone. * All who truly believe belong to God, not to themselves.
- As you begin a new year, recalling your identity as God’s chosen can anchor your resolutions and priorities in more than self-improvement—it roots them in who God says you already are. Early Christians found Jesus’ work all through the Old Testament. Peter quoted Isaiah 28:16; drew on Psalm 118:22; took an image Exodus 19:6 used for Israel and inverted the sad symbolic names of Hosea’s children (Hosea 1). Have you ever seen yourself as part of, in Peter’s words, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession”?
- Some scholars believe 1 Peter drew from early baptismal instruction for new converts. When do you intentionally remember your confirmation, baptism, or the time you first embraced faith in Jesus? How does your identity as a Christ-follower shape your daily choices and priorities? (To learn more about baptism, for you or someone else, click here.)
Prayer
Prayer: Lord God, I often fail you, yet you call me chosen, holy, a part of a royal priesthood. Help me each day as I seek to live into the amazing identity with which you honor me as your child. Amen.
GPS Insights
Ginny Howell
Ginny Howell, who serves as the Worship Experience Director for Resurrection, wrote today's Insights. She leads the church’s efforts to provide radical hospitality and an excellent worship experience across all of our locations. She’s a mom to three, g-momma to one sweet little boy, and shares much of her time with her closest companion, a rescued Pit Bull named Lola.
Looking towards a new year is always an interesting balance, I think. Fancy 2026 planners are on sale, gym memberships are at the best prices ever and the health industry and diet culture worlds are as active as ever. Our culture and society have a lot to say about what we should be thinking about at this time, and there are messages everywhere if you are paying attention. On my own social media accounts this week, I have been amused with the different types of messaging that I have seen pop up.
Fun fact about me: I absolutely love memes. A friend and I have shared at least one meme a day, every day, for at least the last four years, maybe longer. I look forward to seeing what she has to share and getting a laugh out of sharing something with her, usually as one of the last things I do before I retire for the day. I save these up so I can have just the right one given my mood or whatever is going on at the time. My kids know that if I am not sending memes on a regular basis they should probably come and check on me because I must certainly be sick.
This kind of obsession creates even more and more meme generation on your social media feed. The ones I am seeing about looking towards a new year are quite varied. Some are funny, sarcastic or ironic, while others are reflective, contemplative or speak to what we truly hope will lie ahead. Some are a fun combination of all those things.
Here are a few of my current favorite snarky New Year memes:
- Before I agree to 2026, I’d like to read the terms and conditions
- I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I didn’t lose weight or become a better person
- I still don’t know what I am wearing to the living room on New Year’s Eve. Might not even go
Some of the more contemplative, intentional memes that I have seen lately include:
- We have a new year ahead of us, let us lead kindly, speak wisely and love intentionally. Do not weary in well doing…
- Before this year ends, put something down. Not a goal, not a habit…. the comparison that keeps draining you. Decide what does not get to cross into the next year with you. Name it, drop it, walk lighter. You don’t step into a new chapter dragging the old one behind you.
I grew up in the Methodist church but did not ever encounter the Wesley Covenant Prayer until I came to work at Resurrection. I appreciate today’s GPS guide shining some light on its origins. If there were social media platforms back in the days of John Wesley, I can assure you I’d be one of his Top Fans.
As much as I love a good meme, I love, love, love the intentionality of the lines of this prayer, and it hits me every time I recite it how powerful the words are. “I am no longer my own, but thine.” “I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.” If you haven’t read the whole prayer already, I invite you to do so here. Print it off, read it daily and use it as another guide in setting intention about this new year we are embarking on together.
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Steven Paulson, Luther for Armchair Theologians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 163.
