After a longer than expected spring break, I'm back with the next part of our New Testament reading plan. (We'll continue in our Grace series next week!) I'm going to start posting the reading plan updates separate from the other posts, and probably several weeks worth at a time, so nobody is left wondering what to read next!
Even though I've read all of the Bible at least a couple of times and much of the New Testament even more often, I find something new every time. Reading God's word feeds our souls and spirits, even when we don't feel like we have discovered something amazing or like we've connected with God through what we've read. Filling our minds with truth and light will always bless us. And we never know when the Holy Spirit will remind us of something we read just when we need it later.
Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart."We will never know what God would speak to us or show us about our own hearts through His Word if we are not reading His Word! Even if we aren't doing an in depth study, we can read. If we have time to scroll on our phones, we have time to read.
Dear Sister, can I say one more thing?
I strongly suggest you do your Bible reading - whether with our plan or another plan - in a paper Bible. I have a couple reasons.
1. Studies are showing that more and more of us are ADMITTING to struggling with the amount of time we spend on our phones. I'm one of these people. (I'm positive that there are even more who aren't admitting it!) For me this means that every time I pick up my phone, I feel a bit of tension about not wanting to be on my phone for too long. I can be reading the Bible on a phone app and still feel the same tension because my brain associates my phone screen with the struggle to not use my phone too much. If I'm reading in my paper Bible, I can relax, focus, and enjoy it much more without the added internal tension of trying to avoid my phone.
2. When we are reading the Bible (or doing anything) on a phone, it is SO easy to click over to another app without even thinking about it. One moment we're reading Proverbs, and the next we're somehow on facebook without even knowing how or when it happened. The subconscious pathways in our brains are powerful and it's effortless to tap over to another game or app we use all of the time because our brains associate our phones with those other activities. When you are reading a paper Bible, your brain isn't quite as easily tempted to start doing something else. The temptation will likely still come - especially if your phone dings or rings - but at least you have a few more seconds to stop yourself and think about what you're doing before you pick up your phone and move your eyes away from the pages of your Bible. (You'll buy yourself even more time if you don't have your phone right next to you!)
I'm speaking from experience here. Just while I was writing this post I was distracted several times - sometimes by important things. We have a fight on our hands and in our hearts and minds if we want to really sit with God's life-changing Word on a regular basis. Let's do everything we can to give ourselves all the advantages we can.
(If none of this happens to apply to you, be blessed and carry on! I won't try to stop you from doing something that's working for you.)
So, let's do it!
My goal for the rest of the New Testament is to read it semi-chronologically. While there isn't a right or wrong way to read the Bible, reading the books/letters in the order they were written in will give us a different perspective. I have never read the New Testament in any kind of chronological way and I think it will be really interesting! We won't be reading all of the books exactly in the order they were written, though. Acts wasn't completed until after AD 62, but we'll be using it as a framework or timeline while interspersing the rest of the letters (i.e. Epistles) in the approximate order they were written, based on what was happening in Acts (or after).
Hopefully that makes some kind of sense! I don't know how much I'll be commenting on what we're reading as we go along, but if you'd like to, please feel free to add your thoughts or comments here on this post. Or send them to me by email. Or chat with me about it at church!
As some of us have already started reading the book of Acts, we'll tackle 5 chapters this next week and 4 chapters each week for the rest of May. (We've already read Luke and Matthew together. We'll come back to the gospel of Mark and the gospel of John at some point, but I haven't decided yet exactly when. You'll have to wait and see!)
May 6-10
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Acts 1-5
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May 13-17
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Acts 6-9
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May 20-24
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Acts 10-13
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May 27-31
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Acts 14-16
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In June we'll start with the book of James and Galatians, thought of as the earliest books written in the New Testament to the early church.
