Bible Reading in 2012

Last year I decided I needed to utilize a plan to read the whole Bible in 2011. So I began to research different plans and discovered that there are a BUNCH of options out there. I had previously only heard of a couple, but there are dozens! Each takes a slightly different approach. Some move chronologically, some have you moving through four different sections of Scripture each day. Some cover certain portions of the Scriptures more than once (like the New Testament or Psalms) and some don't. With so many options I simply couldn't decide. By the time I decided to just go with one, it was the second week of January! And I never got any momentum and consequently petered out very quickly.

So this year I'm starting anew, and I've selected a plan with what could be considered a bit of a cheesy name (no offense to the people who put it together!): OwnIt365, available at their website or via YouVersion.com. Here I'll explain why:

There's obviously nothing wrong with reading straight through the Bible over the course of the year. But let's be honest -- there are times when such an approach can get taxing or even laborious. On the other hand, plans that have you reading in four different sections of Scripture seem to me to make things a bit too choppy and disjointed. It's hard to hang with the flow of things when you're flipping all over the place every day.

So one of the main reasons I chose this plan is that it meets us in the middle, giving us two readings a day: one from the Old Testament and one from either the New Testament or the wisdom literature of the OT. (Hence the name OWN -- Old testament, Wisdom literature, New testament).

Another thing I like about the plan is that it sets things up to give you 6 readings per week, and I think having a buffer day in there is practical and realistic. It's a good catch-up day or, if you're on the ball, can be a nice day to read something different, perhaps taking a Sunday to read over the passage covered in Sunday's sermon.

A last thing that's nice is that the plan selects a chapter or so of each day's reading as a suggested family reading, which can build in some nice options in the area of family devotions or that sort of thing.

I am considering blogging through the readings here, though in no way would I imagine committing to doing so 6 times per week!

Piper on our Fixation with Personal Comfort

These words from John Piper, written shortly after 9/11/01, are worthy of significant consideration:

There is a mindset in the prosperous West that we deserve pain-free, trouble-free existence. When life deals us the opposite, we have a right not only to blame somebody or some system and to feel sorry for ourselves, but also to devote most of our time to coping, so that we have no time or energy left over for serving others.

This mind-set gives a trajectory to life that is almost universal - namely, away from stress and toward comfort and safety and relief. Then within that very natural trajectory some people begin to think of ministry and find ways of serving God inside the boundaries set by the aims of self-protection. Then churches grow up in this mindset, and it never occurs to anyone in such a community of believers that choosing discomfort, stress, and danger might be the right thing - even the normal, biblical thing - to do. 

-- John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 18

There is enough in those two paragraphs to chew on for days. It cuts right to the heart of many hot-button political and societal issues. But more to the point, it calls us to ask some tough questions about how we as believers and as churches live in the world.

Soul Mates or Sole Mates

Just read an absolutely outstanding article by Gary Thomas called "Soul Mates or Sole Mates." I'd say it is suggested reading for every unmarried Christian over age 16 or so.

The gist:

The search for “the one” is often an idolatrous pursuit. As Christians, we must believe that our primary meaning comes from our relationship with God: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Matt. 6:33) Thus, a Christian should not consider any marital union that would not feed this primary relationship with God...

Can I suggest a more biblical pattern? Instead of following Plato in a wild pursuit of our soul mate, we should seek to find a biblical “sole mate.” A sole mate is someone who willingly does the shoe-leather application of living out biblical love.  

Again, I think the entire article is good and very important. I commend it to you highly

Satan's game plan vs. God's game plan

"If Satan's basic game plan is pride, seeking to draw us into his life of arrogance, then God's basic game plan is humility, drawing us into the life of his Son. The Father can't think of anything better to give us than his Son."

-- Paul Miller, The Praying Life, 236

Praying for Endurance

In writing about the pervasive theme of endurance throughout the Scriptures, John Piper comments on how regularly various biblical writers pray for it in some form or fashion. He cites four such examples in the Psalms that neatly form the acrostic pattern IOU'S:

Incline my ear to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain. (Psalm 119:36)

Open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things in your law. (Psalm 119:18)

Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11 - as in unite it from all of the various allegiances and distractions that threaten to distract and divide it).

Satisfy me in the morning with you steadfast love. (Psalm 90:14)

This strikes me as a very practical and useful structure for prayer, which I suppose is why I'm summarizing it here.

(John Piper, "The Roots of Endurance," page 24)

Do we need the atonement?

"People are not concerned about an atonement. They are basically convinced they have no need for it... If anything has been lost from our culture, it is the idea that human beings are privately, personally, individually, ultimately, inexorably accountable to God for their lives... If people understood that there is a holy God and that sin is an offense against that holy God, they would break down the doors of our churches and ask, 'What must I do to be saved?'"

-- RC Sproul, The Truth of the Cross, 8-9

Wisdom for Prayer from Ecclesiastes

 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.  Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

(Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 ESV)

This passage really begins to challenge how we think about prayer. Is prayer too often a one way street - marked by constant talk to God about things great and small rather than a desire to listen? Do I come to God to persuade Him to see my side of things or to be persuaded by His will? Does I suffer from a sort of verbal diarrhea in prayer - blabbering on about things without reflection or thought regarding to whom and about what I'm speaking? Is God a cosmic Santa Claus or vending machine? You get the idea.

The writer here seems to be arguing that what pleases God most is to be desired for Himself. Think about it. Are you more honored by someone who comes to talk to you about themselves or by someone who seeks your input, your counsel, your view of things? By someone making demands or by someone submitting to you?

There's a strong admonition here. "Guard your steps" means "Be careful," implying there's potential danger here. We must take care to approach the God of the universe appropriately, not cavalierly. The Teacher seems to be saying that to go into God's presence to prattle on without regard for who He is and who you are, is literally to do evil without realizing it!

Surely we may approach God boldly because of Christ, but we must balance that with a proper view of His character and holiness. We must not tread lightly.