Read the Whole Bible This Year (And Every Year)
If you are making plans for the New Year, I'd like to offer a resolution suggestion: read through the whole Bible. Not only would I recommend this for next year, I would recommend that you adopt this practice for the rest of your life. Here are a few reasons why:
#1: It's a realistic way to keep moving.
"Exercise more" and "eat better" are common New Year's Resolutions, but they often fail without a specific and achievable plan. Many people rightly desire to "read the Bible more" in the New Year, but a lack of a plan will often leave them fumbling back and forth between their favorite passages. A plan will keep you moving.
Reading through the Bible in a year may sound like a mammoth achievement akin to running a marathon, but it's more achievable than you might think. If you listen to the Bible (and most good Bible apps have this option), you can make it through the Bible in a year in 12-14 minutes a day. Most people can read faster than that. If you don't think you have that kind of time, I'd encourage you to go and check the "screen time" report on your phone. You have the time.
#2. It will protect you from error and fads.
Ephesians 4:14 teaches us that one goal of maturity for every Christian is that we might not be "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine." Regularly reading through the Bible will help you accomplish this.
So many bad ideas spring from a soil where something true has been taken out of context. People will take something true from the Bible and twist it and even begin to use it in unbiblical ways. The unsuspecting fall for these ideas because they contain partial truth.
Don't be one of those people! Love the WHOLE Bible. See how it all works together to paint a grand picture of God and the gospel. Don't fall for those who create false doctrines or false dichotomies that will stunt your spiritual growth.
#3. It will never get old.
God wrote a book! And in the book he reveals to us his thoughts, his ways, his character, his deeds, and his plans for the future. You will never exhaust the wonder all that God is in a lifetime of Bible reading.
I've been reading through the Bible each year for only about 20 years, and it just gets better and better. I've been doing a podcast with a daily reading plan for over four years now, and some of the most encouraging feedback I get is from "seasoned saints" who have been reading through the Bible for much longer than me. Instead of growing tired of reading the Bible, they are just loving it more and more. If you join in this practice, I'm confident you will experience the same feeling.
If your church has an annual Bible reading plan, I'd strongly encourage you to join in this next year. If not, join us at Revival from the Bible, where the whole goal is to get more people in the Word and help them get more out of the Word. There's treasure everywhere in God's Word, come dig in with us.
