It was 2011. I was in Gojo, Ethiopia at the closing of our week-long training session for hundreds of church planters. I remember standing on a balcony in a half-finished church with no railing to prevent me from falling off getting ready to hand out Bibles. Most of these faithful men and women had no Bible. It had just been translated into their tribal language. And I could tell they were very excited! As Pastor Ray closed our time with prayer, they began to press forward. Their hands trembled as they reached for God’s Word. Fearing there may not be enough, they started pushing and pulling, doing all they could to make their way to the front. We kept stepping back until we were literally on the edge of the balcony. One member of our team started to panic and push back. It felt like we were on the verge of a riot. For Bibles. I thought to myself, “How wonderful! Would that all God’s people had this same hunger for God’s Word!”
According to a 2013 survey, 88% of Americans claim to own a Bible, 80% believe it is sacred, and the average household in America has at least four of them. However, only one in five actually read the Bible with any regularity. This is tragic because most people I know long to draw close to God. They long to hear His voice. They long to sense His presence. And God, in His grace, has made Himself known through His Word! Within the pages of Scripture, God reveals His nature. His character. His great love for His people. Within the pages of Scripture, He makes known His will for our lives. He demonstrates for us what abundant life looks like here on earth. And He shows us the way to eternal life with Him in heaven. The Bible is full of God’s promises for our lives and yet so many of us aren’t even aware of them! So we doubt God’s love. We question His goodness. We fear being let down.
Reading the Bible every day is essential to one’s spiritual growth. Not because God has given us homework but because God’s Word is “living and active.” God’s Word is literally “God-breathed.” God’s Word comes alive through the Holy Spirit and speaks to the deepest needs of every human heart. It is the primary way we get to know God and it is the primary way He speaks to us.
Friends, I want to invite you to join me in reading through the entire Bible in 2018. Starting January 1st, we will follow a reading plan that will take about fifteen minutes a day, six days a week (to give us space to catch up when necessary), and will cover the different books in chronological order. What this means is we will NOT be reading from Genesis to Revelation but rather as things happened historically. This is a great way to read as it allows us to more easily draw the connections between the different books and see how they hang together. I will also be posting a daily devotional based on the readings to help us along the way. Looking forward to the journey and can’t wait to get started!
p.s. If you have YouVersion on your mobile device, the plan title is “Reading God’s Story: One-Year Chronological Plan.”