Over the years Bruner’s Chapel Baptist Church has annually
promoted numerous kinds of Bible reading plans, often designed to assist us in
reading through the Bible in a single year. These have ranged from Dr. Grant
Horner’s plan, reading straight through the Bible, reading chronologically
through the Bible, etc. Each method we've promoted has had its advantages and
we would still commend their use.
At the same time, plans like those named above frequently cause discouragement as our New Year's Bible reading resolutions give way to the unexpected X-factors of life which seem to encroach with a vengeance after a few weeks or months. I don't know about you, but I can't seem to find a command in the Bible giving special importance to reading all 66 books of the Bible in a year's time. Furthermore, trying to speed through a book like Proverbs could be positively harmful since its poetry was designed to be read slowly and thoughtfully.
Therefore, let me suggest a new kind of reading plan for 2012: 'The Bible Reading Plan for Slackers and Shirkers' (Isn’t that a catchy title?). Advantages to this plan include:
1. Removing the pressure to 'keep up' with getting through the entire Bible in a year.
2. Providing variety throughout the week by alternating books.
3. Providing continuity by reading the same type of biblical genre each day of the week.
In a nutshell, here's how it works:
Sundays: Poetry
Mondays: Penteteuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy)
Tuesdays: Old Testament history
Wednesdays: Old Testament history
Thursdays: Old Testament prophets
Fridays: New Testament history
Saturdays: New Testament epistles (letters)
The advantage of this plan is that it provides guidance as we read each day but does not put us on an internal guilt trip if we miss a day - we just pick up with the next reading on the day it happens to be. Also, this plan allows us to see the many interconnections between sections of Scripture.
Many Bible reading plans are good, but I find this one unusually helpful, for it combines two biblical values which seem to diverge in most plans: discipline and grace. Beginning this Sunday we'll have copies of the plan in the Sunday School office.
At the same time, plans like those named above frequently cause discouragement as our New Year's Bible reading resolutions give way to the unexpected X-factors of life which seem to encroach with a vengeance after a few weeks or months. I don't know about you, but I can't seem to find a command in the Bible giving special importance to reading all 66 books of the Bible in a year's time. Furthermore, trying to speed through a book like Proverbs could be positively harmful since its poetry was designed to be read slowly and thoughtfully.
Therefore, let me suggest a new kind of reading plan for 2012: 'The Bible Reading Plan for Slackers and Shirkers' (Isn’t that a catchy title?). Advantages to this plan include:
1. Removing the pressure to 'keep up' with getting through the entire Bible in a year.
2. Providing variety throughout the week by alternating books.
3. Providing continuity by reading the same type of biblical genre each day of the week.
In a nutshell, here's how it works:
Sundays: Poetry
Mondays: Penteteuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy)
Tuesdays: Old Testament history
Wednesdays: Old Testament history
Thursdays: Old Testament prophets
Fridays: New Testament history
Saturdays: New Testament epistles (letters)
The advantage of this plan is that it provides guidance as we read each day but does not put us on an internal guilt trip if we miss a day - we just pick up with the next reading on the day it happens to be. Also, this plan allows us to see the many interconnections between sections of Scripture.
Many Bible reading plans are good, but I find this one unusually helpful, for it combines two biblical values which seem to diverge in most plans: discipline and grace. Beginning this Sunday we'll have copies of the plan in the Sunday School office.
Or Download one here.
May God bless us as we enter a new year!
- Bro.
David Crowe
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