In 2020, our desire is to see the members and regular attenders of TBC form a regular habit of reading, meditating on, and memorizing Scripture. The Word of God is the primary means the Spirit of God uses to transform us more into the likeness of Christ. So, we, as followers of Christ, should dedicate ourselves to being in the Word on a daily basis.
To help us achieve the above goal, we are going to be reading through the Bible as a church body. One of the most helpful tools in reading your Bible are Bible reading plans. The great thing about a reading plan is that it takes much of the stress away in reading when it comes to reading our Bible. We don't have to decide what to read next or how much we should read. A good Bible reading plan lays out daily readings that give you a manageable yet steady diet of the Word. This year, TBC is going to be using the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading plan (the link is below)
Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan
Here are a few benefits from the plan and tips to help it be easier.
- Print the reading plan and tape it in the front of the Bible you would use for your devotional reading. This gives you easy access to the plan, and you don't have to worry about losing it.
- This particular reading plan has built in "miss" days. You will notice there are 25 readings a month. This frees you up to not have to cram it in during a particularly hectic day or couple of days.
- You are reading in four different parts of the Bible every day: a gospel, another section of the New Testament, Wisdom literature (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.), and the rest of the Old Testament. This helps you understand the whole story of Scripture throughout the year.
- You can read through the entire Bible in 1 year. This might seem like a daunting task, but each of the daily readings will not take more than 15-20 minutes. Let us encourage you to make room to read each of the days.
- Don't be a legalist about this! Because this plan is presented like a list with check boxes, we can be tempted to make this something we have to do and mark off the list. The goal of reading the Bible is always transformation. If you can't get through all the reading in one day, split it into two. If life becomes overwhelming and you can't get through every reading in a month, carry it over to the next month. The goal is to help you read the Word, not check boxes off a list.
Throughout the year, we will be posting different tips and methods for getting the most out of reading the Bible. For now, print out the plan and make a commitment to read the Bible more in 2020. We are looking forward to the amazing things God will do in each life and in the life of His church through the reading of His Word.
Your pastors