Have
you read the whole Bible from cover to cover?
Why
not resolve to do that in 2014?
Last
year I posted links to a number of plans. This is a LINK to that post. They are
all still available.
Tim
Chester recently made available the Bible reading plan they use at The Crowded
House church in Sheffield. I really like. He gives 4 reasons why it’s different
and helpful:
1. FlexibilityThe 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
There is also a version in the document in which you cover the OT once and the NT twice in two years = about 16 chapters a week.
4. 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.
Here’s the
complete three year plan and here’s this postcard-sized version of the plan for 2014.
Alternatively,
I came across another Bible-in-a-year reading plan recently that utilises email.
‘The Bible in 2014’ is a different kind of reading plan. As soon as you sign up (it's free) you receive an email every day for the whole of 2014
containing:
1) The Bible references of an OT and a NT reading for the day
2) A key question to ask of God's Word as you read - to help you take in what you are reading
3) A brief comment on the OT reading to aid understanding
4) A suggestion on how to pray in response
You
can visit the site and subscribe by clicking HERE.
Reading
the Bible this year... sounds like a New Year’s Resolution worth keeping to me!
