Reading God's Word in the New Year
The New Year is now well underway. Many have made New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, diet and exercise, and to put more money into savings. Keeping these common and worthy goals will likely lead to better health and improved finances.
The beginning of a new year is also a great time to set spiritual goals. One spiritual goal that can be easily achieved is to read the entire Bible in the New Year. Reading for about 15 minutes a day, one can read the entire Bible through in 2021. If one reads three chapters of the Bible each day, Monday through Saturday, and reads five chapters each Sunday, one will complete the entire Bible within the New Year. There are also other plans online for reading the Bible through in the New Year. Search “Classic Daily Bible Reading Plan,” and one can find a yearly plan for reading the Scriptures.
The Bible teaches that God’s people are expected to read the Word. Jesus, on more than one occasion asked, “Have you not read?” Jesus asked the Pharisees, “Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him?” (Matthew 12:3). On another occasion, Jesus asked the Pharisees, “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?” (Matthew 19:4). The Lord also posed a question to the Sadducees: “Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living?” (Matthew 22:31-32). These questions show that Jesus expected the people of His day to read God’s Word.
If Jesus were here in bodily form today, would he be surprised at how little the Bible is read? Would he ask church goers, “Have you not read?” and then make inquiry about some passage that needs to be read?
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, with more than 5 billion copies in print. However, “having” a Bible does not mean that one actually “reads” his Bible. It is unlikely the average church goer could provide the names of the twelve apostles, list the 27 books of the New Testament, or name the one who preached the Sermon on the Mount. Could you? Maybe you could, but many who own a Bible have never read it. If Jesus were present in body today and spoke to you, would he ask, “Have you not read?”
Why not resolve to read God’s Word in the New Year? If you do, you will be blessed! John wrote, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Revelation 1:3). It was true when John wrote, and it is true today: those who read God’s Word are blessed. Happy New Year! Read the Word!
