Rena and I committed to reading through the Chronological Bible this new year. We’re on Day 8 and excited about it! Pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us and that we’ll persevere. What’s your plan for filling your mind and heart with God’s Word this year? If we aim at nothing, we’ll hit it every time. So in 2025 let’s aim at reading, learning and living out what God has said to us.
Don Carson said, “At their best, Christians have saturated themselves in the Bible. They say with Job, ‘I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread’ (Job 21:12).” But it’s a growing challenge to make Bible reading, learning and living a priority in our lives. Not only do we battle the usual obstacles of laziness, lack of self-discipline and pride, but now more than ever our pace of life and constant connection to media pull us away for what’s most important. The Lord Jesus told us (quoting Deuteronomy 8:3), “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
So what’s your plan? Many Bibles have a reading plan printed at the front or back. Your church may have reading plans on a table in the lobby. You could use a book such as Don Carson’s For the Love of God, which provides a reading plan and commentary. I’ve used this book in prior years and highly recommend it and its companion volume. Online resources abound! The Bible and YouVersion apps offer many reading plans as do BibleGateway and other Bible websites. Choose one that works well for you and go for it. Do it with your spouse or a friend to keep yourself encouraged and accountable.
If you haven’t started yet, that’s okay. You’re not far behind. Take some extra time this weekend to catch up!
Rena and I already have a hitch. We both had a full day yesterday, arriving home after 8:00pm, so we’re catching up on two readings today. Mornings during breakfast is our best time to read and pray together, and we have to figure out how we’ll continue reading when I’m in Haiti. Pray for us – and join us in saturating ourselves in God’s mind-renewing, life-changing book this year.
Speaking of Bibles, we will have specifics shortly after we close the books on 2024, but I can tell you that we exceeded our matching gift challenge for 2024 Creole Bibles. Thank the Lord and thank you, too, for your generous gifts!
We’re putting your investments to work quickly. On Monday, I started orders for 700 Creole Bibles for our February and April trainings (six courses) and also started an order for 504 Thompson Bibles. These two orders of Bibles cost around $25,000, a small investment in 700 Haitian church leaders in the first half of 2025!