Feasting in 2022
It’s here! A brand new year. As it begins, I pray your hearts are filled with gratitude for the abundant grace and goodness of the Lord in 2021. What the new year has for you, only God knows. But here’s what you do know as a Christian: Whatever role, season, or situation God has you in, nothing you do in 2022 will be more important than prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17), preaching the gospel to yourself (Colossians 3:1-4), and reading the Bible (Psalm 1:1-3).
For this reason, I encourage you to consider Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan. Mr. M’Cheyne was a nineteenth-century Scottish pastor. The Lord took him home just a few weeks before his 30th birthday. Though his life and ministry were short, his impact has lasted centuries, mainly through his annual bible reading plan.
A foremost passion for himself and his church was reading the Bible with great intentionality and purpose. One gets a sense of this in his encouragement:
You read your Bible regularly, of course; but do try and understand it, and still more to feel it. Read more parts than one at a time. For example, if you are reading Genesis, read a Psalm also; or if you are reading Matthew, read a small bit of an Epistle also. Turn the Bible into prayer. Thus, if you were reading the First Psalm, spread the Bible on the chair before you, and kneel and pray, “O Lord, give me the blessedness of the man”; “let me not stand in the counsel of the ungodly.” This is the best way of knowing the meaning of the Bible, and of learning to pray.
Wherever you are in your bible reading, right now is a great time to start reading or rereading the Bible. And let’s do it together. Let’s talk about it on Sunday mornings in the lobby. Let’s share our time in the Word in the home, on the double-date, or that one-on-one coffee. In the hands of the Spirit, God’s Word is active and alive, transforming our hearts and lives to live another year in the good of the gospel and for the glory of our King!
For your convenience, I have included three ways (taken from The Gospel Coalition) you can join us this year:
1. Bible Reading Plan. Read the entire Bible according to Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s plan, which takes you through the entire Bible in a year (including the New Testament and Psalms twice). Download the PDF reading plan
2. Daily Newsletter. This daily email contains Don Carson’s devotional reflection, along with related articles and links to go deeper in each day’s Bible readings. Subscribe here.
3. Podcast. This podcast contains audio reading of Don Carson’s For the Love of God,a daily devotional commentary that follows the M’Cheyne plan: podcast (Apple | Stitcher | Spotify).
Happy New Year and Happy Bible Reading all year!