The ball dropped. Auld Lang Syne was sung. Now the buzz of everyone making New Year’s resolutions is all you hear about in ads and on social media. I know, cliché.
It’s just a number. I will be scribbling out 19 and rewriting 20 every time I write the date for at least a month. Still, there is something about a new start. It’s not about the number but more about what goes along with the holiday. It’s the fact that we got a two-week rest from the stress of our daily activities and hurried pace of life. It’s that this year, we traveled to the other side of the United States for the entire two weeks, visiting family in San Francisco and then driving the renowned PCH to San Diego to visit the other side of the family. Something about traveling not only to one of the most beautiful places on the planet but also being in other peoples’ spaces for a period of time is a great motivator: an impetus for evaluating one’s own life in contrast to new experiences.
Our own rhythm was disrupted to (temporarily) take on the rhythm of another. We spent an entire week adapting to my SIL and BIL’s surroundings. We spent another whole week shacking up with my sister and her husband. We observed their daily life: saw where they work, do their grocery shopping and spend their leisure time. We experienced how they eat, do their morning routine, organize their drawers, decorate, spend their waking hours.
Though it was really hard to leave the palm trees and the mountains, the sandy beaches and sunny weather to come back to a cold and dreary Indiana, I was inspired and renewed. I could come home to a new start. I could make changes. Things that weren’t working before we left, I could fix. I could take pride in the things that we do well here. We experienced someone else’s rhythm, and we could pick and choose which of those things we would bring back with us and which of the things just isn’t us. We have a life back here to live, and we have a lot of freedom in how we choose to live it. God is in charge and we never know just what the next minute, hour or day will bring, but we are charged with making the most of it.
My view from the passenger’s seat.
That said, there is something valuable in taking the time to evaluate the past and intentionally move into the future. It could be a word God gives you to focus on for the year or a set of goals and a vision to move forward. Common ways to categorize those goals include health, relationships, professional development and personal growth. I’d like to add one to that list that may get overlooked, but encompasses all the rest, and that is the spiritual. One thing that sticks out from my list this year, and what I’d like to focus on in this post is Bible-reading: the incomparable benefits and some practical and wise suggestions for implementing it.
Because let’s be honest, I came back from vacation with an unanticipated zest for decluttering my shelves and a pep in my step for creating healthier snack options for my kids. But that enthusiasm will fade, and we’ll eventually find ourselves in the same organizational rut. Though spiritual ebbs and flows are equally inevitable because we are human, the benefits of getting to know your Creator better are nonetheless lasting and eternal.
Why should I make Bible-reading part of my 2020 goals?
- The Bible holds divine wisdom. God speaks in various ways. One of those ways is that He authored a book so that you could know Him. How can we not curiously discover what He has to say?
- It is alive. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the ancient text applied to the people who lived thousands of years ago, but it also speaks to you right where you are today. You can apply what you read to your daily life. Additionally, a passage read over and over again throughout the years can suddenly take on fresh meaning: there is never a shortage of new things you can learn. It is life-altering.
So, here are some suggestions for making Bible-reading a part of your 2020:
For those new to reading the Bible (skeptics welcome):
- There is almost no wrong place to start. Reading a Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) will give you an overview of the life of Jesus. Reading a letter from one of Jesus’ closest followers (James, Ephesians or 1 Corinthians, for example) will give you a preview of some of the larger themes of following Him.
- Find a church to attend. Sermons serve as great supplemental material for coming to understand Scripture.
If reading the Bible is an old practice for you, here are a few suggestions to enrich it this year:
- Challenge yourself (and someone else) to a reading plan. It will set you up to read the entire Bible in a set amount of time: in one, three or five years, for example. I’m not normally a fan of trying to read the Bible in short order because I am a slow reader and when you work slow, it is hard to keep track of progress. I can’t count the number of times I got through the first few books and then gave up or started over because I lost track of how far I had gotten.The one time I finally did read the entire Bible cover to cover, it took me ten years. No joke.
I’m detail-oriented, and I like to read for comprehension. I am a seeker and have lots of questions. However, my best friend challenged me to a one-year plan, and this year I said yes. To stay on pace, I will not be able to go as deep every single day, but it will give me a different kind of bird’s eye view of the entire story: in my first week, I’m already noticing new things simply by coming at it from a different viewpoint. Try The Bible Project’s Read Scripture Plan (More on TBP, which I highly recommend in a minute)
- Try reading it differently. Want to try reading the stories not as they are traditionally organized, but chronologically as they happened? There is a physical Bible as well as online reading plans that will navigate how to do just that. Another idea is to get a Bible that simply organizes the contents into a story format. Verse references and chapter numbers are taken out, and the text is laid out in single-column format, more like that of a pleasure-read. The Bible will take on the look and feel of a novel. Try The Story or The Immerse Bible
For new and seasoned readers alike:
- Don’t burden yourself with unnecessary rules and regulations. The when and where don’t matter. Just make it a regular habit, in whatever way works for you.
- Keep a journal or ongoing note in your phone with a list of questions, and don’t put off working to get them answered. Ask a trusted friend, co-worker, pastor or do the research yourself. Test all sources for accuracy.
- Check out a reliable source of supplemental material, such as a good devotional, a collection of videos or podcast series. For videos, I highly recommend The Bible Project (title is hyperlinked, but videos are also highly accessible on their YouTube Channel). Though relatively new to the scene, this Bible scholar-meets-cartoonist team has become widely known in a short period of time for their next-level videos that take complex biblical themes and turn them into simple drawings and explanations that are suitable for all ages and levels of Bible knowledge. By extrapolating major themes, they somehow simultaneously enrich the text for those who want to be challenged as well as simplify the text for those who feel it is already challenging enough on its own. It’s done both for me. As for podcasts, I have been intrigued by the BEMA series. This podcast digs deep into oftentimes mysterious concepts like God’s Spirit and brings life to confusing texts like Genesis by sharing how the literary tools that are active in a particular text can aid in its interpretation.
Now go click on some of those suggested links and check out what works for you. Leave a comment below with your own suggestions or to let your Something Like Scales community know how it’s going. Let’s do this together! To reading (and understanding) the Bible in 2020…
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