Saturday 31 July, 2010

.blogs

New Year's Resolution

Posted: Feb 02, 2009 by Matt

I wonder if you’re in the habit of making new years resolutions: to eat less, to exercise more. We generally make new year’s resolutions because we feel like we’ve failed and we’re desperate to put that right and the new year seems like as good a time as any to do it. I think one of the reasons new years resolutions fail is that we try to keep them on our own – there’s no one to hold us accountable.

As a Christian one thing I really struggle with is consistently reading the Bible. I know that sounds shocking from an elder, but I find it really hard to keep motivated and tend to have good weeks and bad weeks. One of the reasons I think I struggle is that I’m trying to do it solo – outside of a community, with no one else to hold me accountable.

That’s why this year I have a new plan of action, a kind of Christian new years resolution. But the reason I think this resolution has more chance of success is because I plan to involve you lot. My plan is to start a Bible reading scheme and read through the Bible. I’ve discovered a good scheme that goes through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice, in three years. Reading the Bible through in a year is often more of a duty than a joy; the aim of this scheme is to make it more achievable but still cover the whole Bible.

Download the three year Bible reading plan.

The website where I found this Bible reading plan gives the following rationale for using it. These are the reasons they give as to why this plan differs from other plans:

• Flexibility. The plan specifies a number of chapters for each week rather than for each day. This makes it more flexible. You can read a chapter or two each day or you can read it in two or three sittings. Or you can set out reading a chapter a day and then catch up at the weekend. It means it fits more readily around people’s lifestyle.

• Communal. It is designed to be followed with a partner or among a group of people. There is only one section each week (occasionally two shorter books). So you don’t have to read a section from one book and then a section from another book each day. It means the sections are somewhat uneven, but it makes it easy to discuss what you have been reading when you meet up with other people. We’ve been using it for a year now and it works very well in this way. I meet up with a friend each week for lunch. It’s easy for us to discuss what we’ve been reading because there is only one Bible book to focus on. It also means I only need look at the Bible plan once a week – I don’t need to refer to it each day.

• Realistic. Following this plan you read the OT in three years and the NT twice in three years. This works out at about nine chapters a week. It means you are not rushing through what you are reading to ‘get it done’. I’ve found with other plans I tend to read it with my mind disengaged. This plan gives time to meditate on the passage.

• Balanced. The plan balances OT history, prophecy, wisdom, Gospel and Epistles throughout the year. You move between genres so you’re never faced with reading OT prophecy continuously for six months.

So why not join me in this plan? Why not do it as a care group, with your spouse, prayer group? By doing it in community there’s not only more chance of success, there’s more opportunity to grow as Christians.

As Christians I think it’s important to read through the Bible as a whole as well as study it in detail. If you only study small bits of the Bible you’re in danger of not seeing the wood for the trees – we need to see the big picture. We also need to study the Bible, because when we read it through we can miss the small details, the rich meaning of each text. So I’d like to encourage you to follow this plan and read the Bible through as part of your Christian growth.