Priscilla mentioned that she and Jerry are reading through the Bible together this year, and several of our readers chimed in that they are doing it as well.
I’ll be honest – this is one of the first years I HAVEN’T made a resolution to read through it in a long time. See, my track record is um….pretty poor to say the least. I start out great guns, but then begin struggling at some at the laws in Leviticus and fully flunk by the time I’m in the genealogies of Numbers. Sigh.
I read my Bible – plenty. Just not in order, and not regularly wading through some of those parts of the Old Testament. So this year I didn’t pick up any One-Year Reading Plans at church and didn’t download any apps to my phone. I was fine with that. Not proud, but fine.
And then something funny happened. I was working on some artwork in a local church and happened to see one of those Reading Plan brochures and picked it up because I liked the picture on the front. Cup of coffee, open Bible – very similar to the photo Priscilla uses when she posts “Notes from my Quiet Time.”
As I glanced through it, I noticed that all the daily readings consisted of one chapter each. Huh?
“You’d NEVER make it through the whole Bible at THAT pace!” I thought.
Then I looked closer and realized that it was a “Read Through the New Testament in One Year” plan.
“Psh! Too easy!!” I said to myself, smugly. Why I could practically do that in a couple of sittings, ha!
And that’s when I stopped myself. Why is it that I would scoff at something as “easy” as reading through the New Testament in a year, when I know full well I can’t manage to make it through the entire book? Sheepishly, I tucked the pamphlet into my purse to think on it a little more.
While “book here, book there” method of study is fine, I wonder if taking teeny tiny daily bites of the whole thing might be a huge blessing I hadn’t really seriously thought of in awhile.
Are you like me – a bit intimidated at the thought of taking on all 66 books of the Bible this year? How about scaling it back to something you can manage on your coffee break? You’d be done reading before you start your second cup. Sound doable? I like the sound of this.
Check out these options if you think you might be up for this:
Bible Gateway – readings can be emailed to you in a choice of versions
Bibleplan.org – several plans, many versions to choose from
NavPress – 5 x 5 x 5 plan – 5 minutes per day, 5 days per week, 5 ways to dig deeper
Let’s do this! Who wants to jump in with me??
Rachel Anne
