At the beginning of this year I made several goals, one of those goals was to read through the entire Bible in one year. In order to complete this task I found an online One Year Bible Reading Plan that I wanted to follow. In my opinion, reading through t
he entire Bible at least once is absolutely essential, especially for those who claim to believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible, word of God. How can you really know unless you have read it for yourself? The beginning of the year was the perfect time to get started.
Month in Review
Throughout the month of February I found out that exactly what I thought was going to happen, happened. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t have the time to read, I did, but it didn’t always happen. I ended up reading several days at a time from the New Testament, and several days at a time from the Old Testament, and the same with Proverbs. This was obviously less than ideal.
In an effort to adjust and make up for this I did decide to go through much of the New Testament by listening to it on CD while in my car. I have many hour plus commutes were I am able to really go through a lot of chapters. As a result I am way ahead of where I should be in the New Testament. In addition, since I am no longer reading the New Testament, but instead I am listening to it, I am able to devote much more time to reading the Old Testament. This really helped me get back on track with my reading. At one point I was at least ten days behind on my Old Testament reading. However, with my focus now primarily on Old Testament reading, I am now fully caught up with both my Old Testament reading and my Proverbs.
In some ways it may come across as cheating my way through the New Testament by only listening to it on CD, however I find that it’s not the case. Sometimes while driving I will get distracted and not fully listen to the CD, but I can just replay that chapter and I am back into the flow of the CD. Also, I can get distracted reading also, sometimes I will go a paragraph or two before I realize I am no longer focused and not sure what I am reading anymore. In these situations I also try to go back and re-focus. In addition, sometimes hearing the Word as opposed to reading it will trigger different responses. This happens while reading also, but I find there are many things I have read, but when I hear them, they open my eyes to things I hadn’t thought of before. It’s something I would encourage you to do, you can find the Bible on CD here.
Chapters Covered
In addition to finishing Exodus, I read all of Leviticus, some of Numbers, finished Matthew, and Mark. One of the things that stood out to me this time around was in Leviticus. When Leviticus talks about the laws, many times it seems legalistic. However, this time around I was really struck by some of the laws. For instance, when someone curses God they were to be stoned to death, the same with the sexually impure, and there are the eye for an eye laws. It occurred to me in a way that it had never occurred before, that many of these laws were to instill Holiness into the people of God, since God is a Holy God.
Your Progress
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Matthew, do you know where you can get a copy of the bible in an audio format for an iPod? I have a lot of opportunity to walk and listen to the bible. However, in my case, listening in the car is rarely an option since I carpool and have a relatively short commute to work.
There are lots of places. Personally I was considering getting a new one with the Old Testament included from Amazon, but you can get them lots of places. A couple really good places seem to be:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bible+mp3&x=0&y=0
http://www.audiotreasure.com/
http://www.buy.com/prod/complete-bible-on-audio-mp3-cds-english-standard-version/q/loc/106/205621335.html
Hopefully one of these options work for you. Good luck with you listening!
I stumbled upon your blog today and really like the content. You seem like a kindred spirit. I have blog that is also focused on discipleship, http://thepracticaldisciple.com. What I loved about your blog is how your faith obviously intersects with daily life, i.e. making physical fitness goals and bible reading goals. I hope you will continue to blog. Believers need more spots like your blog where they can encounter real folks just like themselves who are being open about their discipleship goals, struggles, and accomplishments. It is inspiring. So please keep blogging regularly.
I am curious how your reading plan is going. I noticed you hadn’t posted for a while. I have been reading scripture daily for about 25 years and count it as one of the biggest blessings in my life. If you are needing some encouragement from a brother in Christ here are a couple of tips that helped me when I was trying to establish a daily discipline of reading. http://thepracticaldisciple.com/2008/05/core-routines-of-faith-getting-started-on-the-word.html. Blessings on your blog and your reading efforts.
Thanks John! I visited your site, nice to see other people that value blogging about Discipleship. I started this blog in January when I became un-employed and as the time progressed it became harder and harder to remain motivated (a side effect of un-employment). However, recently we just moved and are joining staff at a House of Prayer. So, I say that to say, I have been wanting to write again, just haven’t caught myself back up yet.
I also fell behind in my reading. Last year I got almost all the way through the Bible in about 9 months, this year I am a little behind (especially the Old Testament) and getting ready to go hard core to get caught up. Overall I think this is my 5 time through it (if you count last year). I plan to complete this year and finish last years missed reading this year!
Glad to hear you will resume writing and reading. Both are passions for me, so if I can be an encouragement in anyway let me know. Sustaining blogging can be really tough; particularly, on the front end of a blog. I look forward to future posts.
Why don’t you follow me on YouVersion? You can find my profile here: http://www.youversion.com/users/parrott84
They have many different online reading plans that you can use with different translations, etc. You can also download an app for your cell phone so you can carry it with you, it would be a great way to encourage each other and follow each others progress.