Happy New Year to you all!

Can you believe it’s already 2024? Where did 2023 go? I know where my 2023 went–writing two 95,000-word books — Fatal Witness and Deadly Revenge and launching the first book in the series, Counter Attack! Not planning on doing that again. 🙂

Another thing I don’t plan on doing is missing my posting date! That happened on December 21, and I have no excuse other than I thought my date was the 28th.

One thing I did was to read through the Bible. There is a story behind that. Nineteen years ago I worked in the schools, teaching abstinence to middle and high school students. At one small school, the teacher seemed different. Calmer, happier, and I asked what her secret was. Her answer surprised me.

“I’m finishing my tenth year of reading through the Bible,” she said.

Oh, wow! was my response. That blew me away. I’d read the whole Bible in bits and pieces, but never from start to finish, let alone in a year. Then she did something else that surprised me. She challenged me to do the same thing. Never one to back down from a challenge, I accepted.

In my bookcase was a copy of the Chronological Bible a friend had given me at least five years prior. January 1, 2005, I opened the Bible and started the day off reading in Genesis. As the days passed, I continued to read each morning the passage for that day. It amazed me how much better my days went. That’s not to say I didn’t have problems, but I was better equipped to handle those problems.

The year ended and I had actually met the challenge the teacher had issued me. I also understood so much more about the Bible as a whole, reading it chronologically.  I saw God’s love like I never had before. In the Old Testament, His people worshipped, then fell into sin, and He corrected them, and they repented. Then the cycle repeated itself. I didn’t see their sinning as much as I saw God’s immeasurable love. I saw David, a man after God’s own heart, worship and write beautiful poetry only to fall into sin. For me, Psalm 51 is one of the most beautiful that he wrote. It’s one I’ve often prayed for myself.

But I’ve read through the Bible, you say. Read it again. You’ll get something new each time you do–I should know. This is my 18th year to read it. For years I used the Chronological Bible, then in 2021, I read it in the Seasons of Reflection Bible. It gives an Old Testament selection, a New Testament selection, and a Psalm or Proverb. Last year, I also read the OT & NT selections in the online Enduring Word Commentary.

This year I plan to use the Seasons of Reflections Bible again, this time doing a study on the psalms and proverbs featured each day.

So…for 2024, I want to issue you a challenge much like that teacher almost 20 years ago issued to me:
Make this the year you read through the Bible. It’s God’s Love Letter to us, our how-to on daily living. 

This first appeared on ptbradley.com/blog