The countdown to a new year is on – just days until 2023.
Are you making some resolutions in these final days of 2022? As you look ahead to the blank calendar of the next 365 days, are you considering new goals you’d like to accomplish, new habits you’d like to form, new projects you’d like to complete?
Can we make a suggestion? In 2023, read the Bible!
Would you make a commitment to consistently open the Bible all throughout the new year? It’s one of the most worthwhile resolutions to make.
Why?
Because unlike any other piece of writing, the Bible is God’s Word to us. The words in the Bible — this collection of 66 books — are “breathed out by God” Himself (2 Timothy 3:16). The One who created us has spoken to us with the words of this book!
And the words of the Bible tell the best true story: That God who created us loves us and has made the way for us to have life forever with Him. From cover to cover, the Bible is the message of the Gospel — the Good News. It’s what we need to hear and believe the most, every day of every year.
The Bible is, as we often say at TCC, the best thing we’ve got.
So why not resolve to read it next year?
Here are some suggestions for reading the Bible next year:
🗒️ Make a plan!
This year, TCC collectively has read through the entire Bible in a project we called Year in the Bible. The plan (which took us through the entire Bible with five days of readings each week) has been updated for 2023 and is available here.
But your plan to read the Bible doesn’t have to include the entire book. There are lots of other options too. Maybe you read the New Testament, or read a psalm each day, or choose a book to "soak" in and study for an extended season.
There are so many Bible reading plans available (here's a site with several good options: https://www.ligonier.org/posts/bible-reading-plans. And here's a tool that allows you to customize your own Bible reading plan: https://t.co/9I4pkYOcRL.
Or maybe your plan is to listen to the Bible in 2023 (an app like Dwell is a great resource for hearing God's Word).
The point is, be intentional. Make a plan!
👥 Read together.
Meaning, encourage others (someone in your own home, a family member or friend, someone at school or work, or – especially! – someone in your church!) to read with you, and encourage each other!
Share your favorite places. Swap questions that you have. Maybe set aside a time to study together. Enjoy the Bible in community.
🧠 Memorize!
Next year, could your plan include memorizing some of the Bible. Maybe choose a verse, or a chapter (or several) and commit them to memory – "store up" God's word in your heart (Psalm 119:11)!
We’ve shared before four tips for memorizing the Bible (here).
🙏🏻 Pray.
Ask God daily to help you love and understand His Word. That's a prayer He likely will not say "no" to!
And also, spend time these last few days of 2022 praying about how you might make the Bible matter in your life in the new year.
Consider: How might your life be transformed by the end of 2023 as you intentionally open God's Word to know and love Him more?
Would you read the Bible in 2023? It’s one of the best New Year’s resolutions you can make!