Monday and off we go into 2021, come hell or high water. I expect some of both. Maybe even this week.
Daily Verse
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
Life is too short to read lousy books, which is why I try to read through the Bible annually—the operative word being “try.” I have been only partially successful, having gotten through it a handful of times. But I still make it my intention to read through it at the start of every year.
I create a new Bible reading plan each year. My custom plan guides me through the Bible in one year, cover to cover, reading six days a week Monday – Saturday. I like it because it gives me Sunday as a day to focus on what I’ve heard in church that day or to use it as a make-up day.
I’m offering my plan free to readers. You don’t even have to give me your email (although I’d love to have you as a subscriber!). Just click the download button:
If you’ve never read through the Bible, you’re in for a treat. Reading through the Bible puts all of those bits and pieces you’ve heard from scripture into their larger context. For instance, I knew the story of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt but was shocked to discover that the “story” consists of just one sentence (see Genesis 19:26). Or perhaps you know “John 3:16” from a lone sign in the stands when a football or basketball game was entertainment and not a social justice movement. But have you ever read it together with verses 17-18? Jesus didn’t show up to condemn the world like the caricatures of Christianity seem to think. Being condemned is the natural state of things. It took reading those verses together for me to finally see that.
Even if you’re not a Christian, you’ll benefit from reading the Bible. This blog is concerned with faith, culture and politics and how the three of them intersect with and influence the others. If you read the Bible from beginning to end, you’ll gain an appreciation for how the scriptures were a central point of reference for our Founding Fathers. Not all of them were Christian in the historical sense—some were Deists, others were agnostic—but they all spoke with reverence for the Christian ethic found in scripture.
Most of all, reading through the Scriptures is the right thing to do if you claim to follow Christ. Using a rational argument, if you claim to be a Christian and the Bible is the foundation for what we know about Jesus, then it is irrational to ignore what it says. It’s like being a Congressman but not reading the legislation you vote on. I know, poor example, but the point stands.
Listen to John Piper talking about how reading through the scriptures affected George Müller, the nineteenth century evangelist and director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England.
Two cautions as you embark on your project. First, don’t be intimidated by it. The Bible is a small library of 66 books in several genres—including historical narrative, law, poetry, wisdom literature, apocalyptical, gospel and epistolary—written over the course of about 1,500 years. There are some books that will feel slow. Read them anyway. You’ll be amazed at how it all hangs together across the years and points to Christ.
Second, don’t let the reading plan become your task master. The plan is a guide that will keep you on pace to complete reading the Bible in one year, but there’s nothing particularly “spiritual” about doing so. There’s no “Reader of the Year” award, no extra points with God.
In fact, you might get inspired and move through it in less than a year. Great! Start a second round of reading. Or maybe you only get half-way through the plan in a year. Also great! Keep going. The point is to read through the Bible. Don’t lose sight of that. If you can do it in a year, fantastic. If you can do it in 18 months, fantastic. If it takes you two years … good, but pick it up a little.
I’ve started and will post a verse from my reading in every Broadside, as above. That will help me stay motivated and maybe it will help you stay motivated, too. Let’s do it together this year.
[Photo by madeleine ragsdale on Unsplash]