On the last Sunday of 2019, pastor John Scholte and I led the worship service at our church, RB Community. Toward the end of the service, pastor John surprised me with an announcement. He announced that his new year resolution was to lose weight. I found myself on the spot and I needed to say something. I looked at pastor John and said, my new year resolution is to get taller. Now, two years later, I am still working on it.
Almost all of us start the new year with a resolution. Though we make them, many of us face difficulties to fulfill the new year resolution. Some of us start with easy resolutions, but others start with large resolutions to fulfill, thus they face difficulties reaching their goal.
Today, I would like to invite you to join me in a new year resolution. An easy resolution. All that we plan to do is to spend about thirty minutes of reading the Bible every day. This is a journey we can take together throughout 2022. Last year we had a similar goal. Some of us were able to finish reading the Bible in the year 2021. Actually, some of us read the whole Bible in less than a year. While others were unable to complete reading the entire Bible throughout 2021, the journey of reading scripture was powerful. I was so encouraged and pleased to hear people’s testimonies as they read the Bible. Many decided to read the Bible again in 2022. While some will try to read the Bible in chronological order, others will stay with the same plan we had. There are many different plans that help us read the Bible in a year. I encourage us to read the Bible using the plan that works for you.
This year I suggest a plan that was made by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. The plan uses a daily reading from the Old Testament and the New Testament together along with the books of Psalms and Proverbs. I will insert the link at the bottom of this article. Also, printed copies will be available at the church’s welcome center.
Last year, we used daily questions that helped us focus as we read the Bible. I was encouraged when some of our people shared with me that they read the suggested readings then they discussed the questions during dinner time. I love this idea. It is a great way to encourage each other and to understand the Bible together.
This year we will be using a different style of questions. The questions for this year will be focused on a theme. The theme for this year’s questions is “to find Christ and honor Him” as we read the Bible. The Lord willing, here is the plan: Each week, a list of daily questions will be posted on our church’s website. The questions will be posted each Monday of each week. The questions will cover the suggested readings for Monday through Sunday of the week. Three questions will be posted for every day’s reading. The questions will generally look like:
A general question on the reading of the day.
A question about Christ in the passage. How is the passage pointing to Christ?
A practical question to help us honor and glorify Christ in our daily life.
These questions are suggestions to help you along your journey of reading the Bible in a year. If you can’t answer all the questions, don’t worry. The most important part of our journey is that we spend time actually reading scripture.
As we will start this journey together, we listen to Christ’s teaching to the Emmaus’ disciples. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus led two disciples to understand who He was and what He did. Jesus used the Old Testament to explain His life and mission. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). All Scripture points to Christ. Together, we will try during this year’s readings to focus on the goal, “to find and honor Christ through the Bible.” As we step together with faith into a new year, I encourage us to reflect on the following:
Let us start our year with a resolution to read the word of God in 2022. We will be facing obstacles, but let us remember the value and power of spending time in reading the Bible. We may miss a day or more in our readings. But please, let us not give up. Try to catch up.
Let us encourage each other. It would be nice if we check on each other as we read the Bible. It would be great if we share on Sundays or other days about what we learn from reading the word of God. Write any questions you have and let us answer them together.
Let us remind ourselves as we read the Bible that our goal is to find Christ in the word of God and honor Him. We all know that our chief goal is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
I pray that may the year of 2022 be a blessed year to us all. May the Lord bless you all and bless your families. May His word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Happy New Year to you all. Please join me as we pray together Psalm 119:105-112.
In Christ, Pastor Mofid Wasef
Here is the link for our daily Bible reading: https://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan/oneyearbiblereadingplan.pdf