Why Follow a Bible Reading Plan in the New Year
Why follow a Bible reading plan this new year? Because it’s the one resolution with eternal benefits.
Every where I look, I see recommendations for New Years Resolutions. Eat healthier. Set boundaries. Say No. Say Yes. Practice self-care. Exercise more. Tidy up. Relax your standards. Be a stricter parent. Be a peaceful parent. Live your best life now!
These worldly, often contradictory, messages scream at me that I’m not doing enough, that I’m not enough. And that if I would just try this ONE thing, my life would be all that I hope for.
But that’s a lie.
Because following the world’s suggestions to attain the world’s standards will always leave us empty and not enough.
No matter how many of these goals we achieve, we are swimming upstream against the chaos of real life. We will never be able to get to “perfect.” And we’re left empty and alone, without hope or purpose.
Our western culture has more wealth and autonomy and leisure time than any other culture in history, but none of it has made us any happier. Suicide rates are rapidly increasing while the average age of suicide attempts drops. We have children in single digits facing suicidal ideation and depression at alarming rates.
Stop making resolutions that promise worldly perfection this New Year. Try one that promises holiness and eternal perfection. Follow a Bible reading plan this new year! Click To TweetIf living our best life now worked, our culture would be on track to become a sci-fi utopia, but we’re not. We’re more angry, fearful, anxious, and depressed.
Because our standards for our lives fall short, every time. Doing more, doing better is a rat race we can’t win.
Only one resolution has the power to affect every area of our lives, giving life and hope in exchange for anxiety and desperation, reading the Bible.
Romans 15:4 ESV For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Encouragement, hope, endurance, instruction. These are just a few of the promises we can claim when we choose to read God’s word.
Whether you’re a life-long Christian who has spent much time in the Bible or an atheist who is curious about what is in its pages, nothing has the power to transform your life as much as the Bible can.
But even among Christians, very few of us actually read it.
According to Lifeway Research, approximately 20% of Christians have ever read the entire Bible, with only 9% having read it more than once.
With such shocking statistics, it’s no wonder that fewer and fewer people are choosing to follow any faith at all.
If those of us who believe the Bible is the word of God, His holy message about who He is and His plan for this world, don’t bother to truly read it, why would anyone else?
Carefully building a faith that endures has to begin with reading the Bible daily and in its entirety.
Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17 ESV So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
As an immature Christian, I spent years reading devotionals, verse of the day calendars, flitting around the Bible.
I would read a few familiar books or do the “random flipping to a page” method. I knew that wasn’t the most theologically sound methodology, but God always lead me to a verse or passage that really seemed chosen just for the day or situation I was facing! Clearly that was good enough…
But read the WHOLE Bible!?! I mean, who does that? Scholars, theologians, experts . . . Not normal people, right?
Somewhere in my subconscious, I had adopted the belief that the Bible was too hard to understand for it to be worth reading all of it. Surely, I could just trust what the experts said it all meant.
Did I really need to read Habakkuk or Zephaniah to be a good Christian?
But God began to reveal to me that being “good enough” wasn’t a Christian attitude at all. The rich man who came to Jesus claiming he had kept all the commandments, asked “what more can I do?”
When Jesus said for him to give away everything and follow Him, he turned away dejected.
Following the rules wasn’t enough. He had to be willing to give up everything. We have to be willing to give up everything.
We have to be willing to give up our ideas about our priorities, our time, and maybe even Christianity to pursue Jesus with an unquenchable desire. (Scroll down to see how I make this fit into a busy mom life.)
It wasn’t until God pressed onto my heart that I could never grow into the mission He had for me until I knew His word that I started purposefully reading the entire Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Five things you’ll gain by reading the entire Bible:
- A stronger faith – Reading the whole scripture clarifies the character of God, which makes it easier to love and trust Him when life is hard.
- A sense of awe and wonder at the nature of the universe and your place in it. As you see God’s plan for the world and our salvation unfold through around 40 authors over approximately 1500 years, God’s transcendent wisdom will transform your heart and mind.
- A better understanding of the Bible – by seeing the larger picture as the story of Jesus from start to finish, we can be better purveyors of the Gospel message.
- Answers to many of your deeper theological questions. I’m consistently amazed at how the Holy Spirit reveals answers and understanding when I read the Bible.
- A better earthly life. Knowing God’s standards, rules, wisdom, peace, grace, etc. will transform your eternity, but will also absolutely transform your life now.
But why should we start the year with a Bible reading plan?
The New Year is a good time to start fresh, to start new.
Mentally, we like to begin new things at the start of a new week, month, year. Starting fresh renews our sense of purpose and determination.
But the most important part is making a plan.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” ―
Having a reading plan will help you stay on track and read in an organized manner over the course of the year.
Each year I choose a different read the Bible in a year plan on the YouVersion Bible App. I like using the app for my daily reading plan for the ability to set a reminders, take notes, highlight passages, create verse images, and more.
Each plan has a calendar with exactly what to read each day. Bless my little list-maker heart, I like being able to check the boxes.
Lastly, the YouVersion app has an audio feature for most of the main translations (I recommend ESV or NASB). While it reads, the text automatically scrolls along, so I can read while I listen.
Putting on my make-up, doing dishes, folding laundry, or even running errands are great times to do my daily reading. I can even toggle between versions if I want to compare translations.
And it offers ways to catch up if you find yourself behind, so you don’t have to be pressured to finish in just one year if you decide to take your time through Psalms or visit Daniel for awhile.
Let me add – this is a way to make sure you’re in the Word daily, but should not be the only way you’re studying the Word this year. The Bible in a year is a way to make sure that you’ve read every piece of God’s word, but isn’t by itself a means of deep study. And no one said it has to take a year! Maybe take two or three, but plan to read the entire Bible.
Without a plan to read the entire Bible, it’s too tempting to skip Numbers, Leviticus, or Habakkuk or similar less familiar books.
How to choose a plan . . .
Search in the app or a search engine for a ‘Bible in a year’ plan.
This year I’ve decided to read the Bible chronologically because I wanted to experience the Bible in the order it happened, not just the order in which we’ve arranged it. There are several chronological plans. I chose the one from Wycliffe NZ. It’s actually 12 month long plans.
I chose this one because it has added devotional content to deepen my understanding of the Biblical and historical context of the reading each day. I have a historical study Bible that I plan to use alongside the app as well.
Would you read the Bible Plan, Reading The Bible In Historical Sequence Part 1, with me?
https://bible.com/p/21219215/6
d10b5696a04fe61df214ef4dfe5fcc 6
I pray you’re encouraged and inspired to join me in reading through the Bible in the coming year. It’s a resolution I’ve never regretted making each January.
6 Comments
Patsy Burnette
I love this, Jennifer! I’m reading through the Bible in chronological order of book authorship in 2020. It’s only day 1, but I’m SO EXCITED!!!
Pinned, tweeted and will share to the IE Facebook tomorrow.
Thanks for linking up at InstaEncouragements! Have a wonderful 2020!!!
Jennifer
Thanks, Patsy! I was so excited that I read tomorrow’s reading too!
John Myer
And the plans themselves shift depending on your previous experience. I made an early life determination to read through the whole Bible about ten times, in order to get the lay of the land. But as I got older, I started choosing plans that would make me drill down into genres, one after another–OT: Law, history, wisdom, poetry, prophecy. NT: gospels-acts, epistles, revelation. I got very systematic about it back in September, and have already felt the benefit of it.
At any rate, good, helpful post.
Jennifer
Yes! I’m reading a chronological plan this year, and followed the Bible Project plan last year. Each plan is slightly different so helps me see slightly differently.
Nancy E. Head
Great insights on an important practice–staying steeped in God’s Word. God bless!
Jennifer
Thank you