With the start of a new year, we often make plans and set goals for what we hope to accomplish over the next twelve months. After all the holiday parties, certainly getting back on track with our diet is top of the list. Maybe next is trying out that new gym around the corner. Perhaps we also want to try a new hobby, read more books, or take a class.
For Christians, we often add to that list of goals something related to reading our Bibles. We know how essential Bible reading is to our faith and we want to be more consistent. Perhaps we received a new devotional or book or bible study for Christmas which we hope will aid us in reaching that goal.
Consistency is hard for all of us. We are fallen people and our hearts are easily distracted and pulled away by lesser things. We should all have a goal to read God’s word each day. It ought to be our goal for every year.
In fact, Bible reading was a goal of mine about a dozen years ago now. While I had read and studied my entire Bible in college (mostly for various classes), I hadn’t read through it since then. I decided that new year I would start in Genesis and read a couple of chapters each day and work my way through the Bible, one book at a time. When December rolled around again, I still had two more books left to read, so I kept on reading until I finished. It took more than a year, but I loved the experience and have been reading through my Bible each year ever since. (Though I now use the M’Cheyne reading schedule.)
Why read through the Bible?
You read books of the Bible you might not ordinarily read: Every word in Scripture is inspired and breathed out by God. Every word is useful for “teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). But we tend to stick with certain books of the Bible. When was the last time you read Leviticus or Obadiah? Whether it’s because they are familiar or easy to understand or for some other preference, we tend to return to the books of the Bible we know, like the gospels or the Psalms. When we do so, we miss out on important teaching from other books. For example, when we skip a book like Leviticus, we miss out on the ways it opens our eyes to see our great need for Jesus.
You see how all the books fit together: While there are many different writers of the books in the Bible, there is one author behind them all: God. “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20). As you read through the Bible year after year, you begin to see common threads and themes. You’ll see stories and patterns repeated. From one page to the next, you’ll see just how sinful and broken and desperate we really are. You’ll see God intercede in story after story with his amazing grace. Time and time again, you’ll witness his faithfulness to the faithless. And you’ll marvel at how God pushed forward his plan of redemption, despite the actions of evil kings, wayward idolaters, and dark spiritual forces.
You’ll grow to love all of God’s word: We all have favorite verses and passages in Scripture. Those go-to pages that are worn and dog-eared more than others. Those treasures we hide in our heart and repeat to ourselves to bring light to the dark corners of our lives. The more that you read through the Bible, the more you’ll come to love the entirety of it. God’s word will become so familiar to you, you’ll find your own words infused with it. Your thoughts will be shaped by it. And as the Spirit works through those words, your very self will be transformed into the image of the Word, Jesus Christ.
This new year, consider reading through the whole Bible. It’s one goal you’ll want to set on repeat.
