This year, I decided to do something different when it came to my daily time with God.
Truthfully, my morning devotional time had become a bit too routine. Don’t get me wrong—I think it’s important to have routines, including in our faith lives. Routines nurture habits and consistency. The problem was, every morning I sat down and opened my Bible because that’s what I always did. I didn’t necessarily open it because that’s what I wanted to do.
I was moving through books slowly. I’ve read through the Bible before, and I didn’t know where to focus next. My reading plan was relatively aimless.
Then, one of my coworkers recommended a reading plan called The Bible Recap. It’s a year-long chronological reading plan with a few wonderful additions. Every day there’s a short podcast (they’re only about 5-10 minutes each) by Tara-Leigh Cobble, recapping the day’s reading and diving into how we see God move in those chapters. At the beginning of every new book, the plan links to awesome animated videos from The Bible Project to introduce the story. And the plan is on the Bible App, so readers can choose to read the story in any translation, use their print Bibles, or listen to the audio instead.
Now, I was hesitant when she first told me about this reading plan. It sounded like a lot… maybe even a little overwhelming.
But I tried it out on January 1, and I found it to be a good fit for me. In many ways, it was what I needed to dive into God’s Word in a new way.
I’ve never watched videos that break down different books of the Bible. I’ve never read the Bible on my phone before, allowing me to switch between translations. I’ve never experienced the Word of God in so many different modalities at once. And I love the way explicit Bible teaching is reaching me every morning through the podcasts.
Maybe this sort of plan isn’t what you need, and maybe it just won’t work for you the way it does for me right now. That’s okay. But I do think we all need to be intentional about diving into God’s Word in new ways. God’s Word is alive. Active. Relevant. Important.
But when we read it the same way again and again, we risk numbing ourselves to the depth and beauty and life in those pages.
Maybe that means reading the Bible at a different time of day, or using a new translation, or listening to the Bible instead of reading it, or any other number of things. But let’s never allow ourselves to become numb to the living power of God’s word.
The Bible is a bestseller for a reason, and it’s anything but boring.
And never forget… you are onederfully created.
Love,
Becca
