HAPPY NEW YEAR!
A New Year always brings me a jolt of metamorphic energy. Just when the inertia of winter begins to pall, a fresh calendar comes along to give us another chance to get ourselves right. What a relief.
I make lots of resolutions. Do I ever keep them all? Well, no, but that's okay. If I make 10 and keep 3, I am still a better person than if I hadn't bothered.
Well-made resolutions have proven to have the power to change my life in years past, with the Lord's help -- which is all the more reason to make them prayerfully. Only Jesus can truly say, "Behold, I make all things new." He knows better than I what lies within me that is old and dead and in need of revival and renewal. I need Him to guide me as I examine what I should desire to change in myself, because ultimately all that matters is whether those changes will please Him.
My 2007 resolutions have not yet found their way to ink, but I know I will resolve, as always, to be more diligent in prayer and in reading my Bible. I have never managed to get through the entire Bible in a year, but the happy fact remains that the years I have resolved to try have always been the years I spent the most time in the Word.
Toward that hopeful goal, I want to share our new favorite discovery:
This Bible evenly divides the OT, NT, Psalms and Proverbs into 365 daily readings that take about 15 minutes to cover. It's published by Tyndale and available at Amazon and CBD.
I like this format for several reasons. First, this is just a super way to read those Psalms and Proverbs -- a little bit to meditate on every day rather than a concentrated reading covering only a few weeks out of the year. This format also serves to hedge the old "exiting at Exodus" syndrome, wherein one... er umm... well, you know. Let's just say it's more motivating to keep up daily reading in the Word when you know you're going to get to read about Jesus every day!
We decided to get the compact paperback version for the car, because it rides so happily in a backpack or purse, and to also get a hardback for the coffee table. For some reason I just didn't read the Bible as much as usual in 2006, so I'm all for minimizing my lame excuses in 2007.
We all need renewing, not just in January but every day of the year... and there's really only one place to go for true renewing of your mind. Let's all be sure we go there!
Posts
13 comments:
I'm going to go check that out - sounds like just what I need!
excellent suggestion! i saw someone elses that you had given for a gift, and i'm glad to hear that there's a hardback version, less compact, probably easier on the eyes. thanks!
i'll go there with you.
I just ordered it from Amazon! Now I see that Rachel says the compact version is a little hard on the eyes, which is the one I ordered. We'll start back with music classes next week, which means 6 HOURS OF WAITING IN THE CAR PER WEEK again, so I though travel size was my best bet.
You might think this is neat. I picked it up at BJ's yesterday.
You might enjoy reading Dallas Willard's book The Great Omission (subtitled "Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship"), Harper San Francisco, 2006, to help you stay motivated. Very good, thought-provoking book! I have read other of Willard's books (The Divine Conspiracy, Spirit of the Disciplines, etc.) but this is my favorite so far.
Thanks for the recommendation of the One Year Bible. I recently ordered the Kay Arthur Inductive Study Bible (which is on its way to me now) because of the prompting of a friend, but this one looks good also.
I've started out with a calendar that one can print out from the Internet... divided much like The One Year Bible. If I find myself veering off task, I might need to purchase a copy. Praying we all stay committed.
rachel tsunami: yes, the hardback is larger, and easier on the old eyeballs.
Completely not about anything in your post but...
I just got an iTunes gift card as Very Belated Christmas Present (yay!), and I need advice on how to spend it. :-) What sort of musical suggestions would the Beehive have for me?
thanks for your post. I have a similar resolution and so spontaneously I went to Amazon and bought one today. Oh I'm excited!
AMEN! I'm working on reading the bible through, and have been since July, and working on reading Proverbs every night as well too!
"I just got an iTunes gift card as Very Belated Christmas Present (yay!), and I need advice on how to spend it. :-) What sort of musical suggestions would the Beehive have for me?"
Ooh, that sounds like an interesting post of its own!
I wonder if that One Year Bible comes in other versions?
Why, yes it does, and I already have the New Living one, so I'm ready!
Just wanted you to know you started a trend over here in Illinois. Seems 4 or 5 copies were ordered (through various folks) after reading and discussing your post.
OH! And, I received a set of Jane Austen books for (belated) Christmas... once again because of your post from this fall. (THANK YOU for mentioning the sale!)
Amazon and others should be paying you for your recommendations!
I just received a leather-bound Thompson's Chain Reference Bible (KJV) for Christmas, so I can't justify purchasing another Bible. I am already very motivated, though, since I do have such a lovely new Bible. This site has several reading plans.
http://www.valleybible.net/resources/readingindex.shtml
I am going to choose one of them and start in. I'm debating between the Chronological Order plan and the Old/New Testaments, Psalm and Proverbs plan.
I really like the idea of reading the Bible in chronological order and even got The Narrated Bible last year since it is in chronological order. My only problem with it was that it only came in the NIV. Suffice it to say, that curbed my enthusiasm and I didn't get very far.
Hopefully, I will have more determination this year knowing that we are all attempting to do this. God bless!
Post a Comment