The Best Goal of the Year

Of all of the goals I made for 2009, the best goal I made by far was to read through the Bible in a year. I had done it once in high school and had gotten through most of it in OT and NT classes in Bible college, but had not done the thru-in-a-year plan since being married and becoming a mom.

I receive the Desiring God blog entries into my e-mail inbox every day (another huge spiritual encouragement) and found out about this plan, which after comparing to other similar plans, looked like a great option for me because it covers 4 sections of Scripture at a time and gives you 5 catch-up days each month, which I really need!

After one month I was blown away by the amount of Scripture covered. I had read as many chapters in a month of the Word as I had digested in the entire year of 2008! Apparently having a plan and committing to it, and publishing it on my blog and telling others about it as a way of staying accountable, really works with my competitive nature!

The reason I feel this goal was hands down the best of the whole year is because it's so easy to get caught up in the unimportant and forget the main thing. So what if I met my goals of having a garden, being frugal, being hospitable, covering academics with my kids if I wasn't being daily renewed and changed by the very words of God? What is truly lasting and eternal? Why haven't I made it a priority in years past?

I'm not writing this here to guilt-trip anyone into thinking they are a bad Christian if they aren't reading through the Bible. I am here to encourage you to try this or at least to make the Word a huge priority in your life even if you are just taking one book at a time. You won't regret it! With my new ESV study Bible, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE I have enjoyed wrestling with and studying some of those hard texts that I had forgotten about because of my tendency in recent years to read my favorite books and stay mainly in the New Testament. My study Bible has cleared up a lot of questions I had on different passages.

A Question of Priority

Some of you may say, "But I don't have time!!!" It often feels that way, especially with little children underfoot all day long. A young mom friend of mine started a month and a half behind, has 3 little kids, homeschools, babysits twin 3 month olds 4 full-days a week, and has suffered through two incredible losses and health issues recently and still makes the time. We were both sharing at our women's study how much our one-year plans have impacted our lives and the other women were saying they felt so convicted, because most of them have no children or grown children and have much more time to do it than we do. Why does my friend make the time? Because when life falls apart, when she is overwhelmed, when she is crushed with grief, when it really boils down to what matters, she clings to the words of God that sustain her and support her. I may have less time to read fiction nowadays, but so what? I'm reading the lifechanging Word of Life! And it really hasn't taken that much extra time to read 5-7 chapters of the Bible a day. We all spend time doing stuff we could cut out each day. And if you don't have any time during the day when the kids aren't awake, then read the chapters aloud to them and you'll both benefit!

How it Pans Out for Me

Another friend of mine has done the one-year plan every year for many years. She's one of my wisest friends! We were talking about it and discussing which is the best method. There are some who go straight through, some who read a chronological Bible, some who break it into 1 OT and 1 NT reading a day and some who do four passages at a time like my plan. Here are the ways I have found for it to fit my own lifestyle:

I don't actually read the 4 portions a day most of the time. This is how it breaks down for me:

Listen to the OT on CD while doing dishes, kitchen cleanup or folding laundry. This is when the kids are in bed and happens 2-3 times a week. I usually listen to 10-20 chapters (1-2 hours) at a time to catch up. I started doing this in Leviticus and Numbers when I was getting hopelessly behind and struggling to read these long and historical parts of Scripture. I make sure that I am paying close attention and if my mind wanders I go back and listen to that chapter again. I have always loved listening to sermons, broadcasts, Adventures in Odyssey, etc. so I do well with auditory learning and get a lot out of it even though I'm not reading. I go back and read portions that caught my attention that I feel I need to study further. This habit has also improved the cleanliness of my house as well! I know I need to get chapters read so I'll clean the kitchen a lot longer than I normally would so I can get my chapters listened to!



The kids often beg me to read from my Bible after Daddy reads their nightime Bible story from The Jesus Storybook Bible. So, I will read my Psalm of the day to them and a chapter of the Gospel I am reading through (Matthew or Mark so far). I also read Genesis and most of Exodus to them at the beginning of the year, which they enjoyed. We also read our chapter of the month nightly that we are working on memorizing. They've memorized Psalm 23 and now we're doing 1 Cor. 13, which is a bit harder and may take longer than a month.



The other segment of the NT (so far I have covered Acts, Romans and 1 Cor.) I cover on my own throughout the day or in the morning when I rise before the kids and have a little time to read and reflect. It's usually only 1 chapter a day.



I enjoy the variety and don't have trouble remembering what was going on in a certain passage but for those of you who want to keep things very simple, reading straight through or reading a chronological Bible may be the way to go. I love the 5 catch-up days where there are no readings scheduled because I often have some chapters to catch up because of busy days where I didn't get much, or any read.

What about Quality over Quantity?

I have heard, and used, the argument that you can study a passage further if you take one chapter a day instead of several. This may be true. However, you lose out on a lot by not examining and becoming familiar with all of Scripture. And then it's all too easy to just get behind or to only read a chapter when you have time to do a huge research process on it, which may end up being never or one day a week! Reading a quantity of Scripture doesn't mean that I don't do in-depth study. I'm part of a Bible Study and both in this study and in church we cover passages in an exegetical way and also when there are passages that I feel I need to understand from my reading I pull out commentaries and books on them. We would all agree that kids need both quality and quantity time with their parents. I think this applies to the Word as well. Just zooming through chapters, letting your mind wander, or doing it to please someone else or feed your pride isn't good, but neglecting it by never reading or having trouble sticking with a plan isn't either. Lots of Scripture combined with very in-depth study of some Scriptures make for a great combo!




The Discipliship Journal Printable Version

I'd love to hear what you have found that works for your lifestyle when it comes to reading God's Word!