So many things in life work better incrementally ... in other words, you do not have to try to do it all at once, but a little each day. The tortoise and the hare, for example.
Hmmm ... seems that even the Creator took the incremental approach to creation (six days).
I get an amazing amount accomplished incrementally but fall flat on my face when I try to live a personal 'big bang' theory.
I am so struck by the power of daily letting God sprinkle your spirit with his Word. In my own life, after fighting through doubts and fears and just general spiritual burn-out, this incremental Word absorption has kept me from ending up in life's junk mail folder more times than not.
Here's how I do it:
I use oneyearbible.net and work through it every day. I may not read an entire day's reading for that day ... that is so ok! There is no law here.
I ask God to speak to me through what I am reading.
More often than not, I realize something that puts gas in my spiritual car. I will have a quickening, an enlightenment, a realization that encourages me, challenges me or simply motivates me.
Remember, I was born a skeptic. So there are days when I read the Word that it feels like reading the nutrition label of a Quaker Oats box. Not getting much out of it ... did you know that it is ok to say that?
Think critically about what you read ... the Holy Spirit is all mixed up with your interior life so you can trust your critical thinking. Remember, he is the helper.
Incrementally read the Old and New Testament. Your personal tide will rise and with it, your boat. I promise.
2 comments:
I had gotten really sloppy about regular Bible reading, and since the first of the year I've been listening to the Daily Audio Bible podcast ( http://dailyaudiobible.com ), which I highly recommend. It's done by a fellow out of Spring Hill, Brian Hardin. Each day he reads an Old Testament passage, New Testament passage, a passage from Psalms and one from Proverbs, taking you through the Bible in a year's time.
You can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or any RSS podcast manager; there are also iOS and Android apps.
He's now signed a publishing deal, with two books about to come out: "Passages," a book about the importance of spending time in the Bible, and a version of the NIV broken up according to the same schedule used by the DAB. The actual podcast rotates among several versions of the Bible from week to week. Brian recently proposed using just the NIV in 2012, so that people who buy the new Bible will be able to use it as a read-along, but a poll of the listeners narrowly favored sticking with the current approach.
Most definitely, Terry...think the Bible helps me so much in the good and the bad...trying to read it straight through once year (Chinese now).
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