TBC Notes - Seven-Year Update Plus

Seven-Year Update Plus

I recently received an email from a sister in the Lord thanking me for encouraging her to read through the Bible in a year. She started in January of 2006 and has continued doing so each year following. She said that the habit she formed has transformed her life and enabled her to deal with some of the most difficult struggles of her life in a wonderfully fruitful way. (See letter from GM on Letters page.)

She wasn’t the only one who took my advice. I, too, put into practice in 2006 what the Lord had put on my heart to share with our readers. One of the things I’ve learned is that whatever God puts on my heart to write or preach, conviction always begins in my own life.

Let me present one possible approach to the Scriptures for the year ahead—an approach that I have made my practice for the last seven years: Read the Bible every day, spending most of your time in the New Testament without shying away from the Old Testament. The length of time is up to you. Fifteen minutes would be a good start. It’s not the length of time that’s critical, however, but the consistency of doing it every day. I can guarantee every believer that the amount of time spent will increase as the practice remains consistent. Why such a confident guarantee? Because you will be spending temporal time growing ever closer to the One who loves you more than you can imagine and with whom you will spend eternity.

One of the benefits of digital technology is that, thanks to Bible Apps, the Word of God is no further away than one’s cell phone. Considering how much time we spend on that device, all of us should be able to squeeze 15 minutes or so of Bible reading from it wherever we are. Fifteen minutes every day in the Scriptures becomes a process of getting to know Jesus better on a daily basis, beginning to understand His instructions, starting to realize more fruitfulness in our lives, and growing in discernment in these days that are characterized by increasing apostasy. There is absolutely no better habit for a believer to develop. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew:4:4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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