The Only Resolution That Really Matters

Happy New Year! I hope the holidays treated you and your family well.

With this new year of ours oftentimes comes new plans and goals and all varieties of resolutions. While I’m not much of a resolution maker, one of the things that I have marked the new year with the past couple of years has been to use this fresh start to settle on a Bible reading plan that will guide me for the following months.

For a couple of years, I used a chronological Bible-reading plan that takes you through the Bible more or less in the order that the events written about are thought to have taken place. (For more on this chronological Bible-reading plan and to download a copy, go here.) The goal of this plan is to walk you through the Bible in a year, which makes it not for the faint hearted because it does require a considerable amount of dedication to sit down with your Bible for an hour or so a day.


But by reading events that are grouped together—say the Old Testament prophecies along with the historical records in Kings and Chronicles that explain what was going on at that time—I was able to really wrap my head around how all those stories and segments fit together and think that is by far the greatest strength in this reading plan.

Last year, though, I knew I was going to be more time-strapped, so I decided to slow down and really dig into different Scriptures and to linger with them longer than I was able to when reading through them for this previous plan. My aim was to pick a few books or topics that I could back up and chew on, slowly and intentionally. I pulled commentaries from the library and downloaded some online resources to get more perspectives on these writings. The goal for this slowed-down method of Bible study was to really know them.

Then, I had my baby and much of those good intentions flew out the window and I would grab scraps of Scripture here and there, whenever I could. Honestly, it was not especially fruitful and I am certain I could have been more disciplined and, after awhile, let my role as "a new mom" become an excuse at lazy Bible reading. Which is something I want to change when it comes to my Bible reading goals and plans for this coming year.



So, along that vein, I want to spend the next week or so exploring this discipline of Bible reading: I’ll be sharing some more Bible-study thoughts and resources, as well as more about my goals for my own Bible study plan for this coming year. Because I don't want to just my resolutions to be about losing weight or saving more or spending time better. I want to remember that which is most important: getting to know God better by committing to reading more of His Word.

Are you starting a new Bible reading plan this year? What kind of approach do you use for reading the Scriptures? I'd love to hear more in the comments!