What is it that they say about New Year’s Resolutions — give it a week or two, and then it’s just a faint memory. By the time February rolls around, it’s as if you never attempted it in the first place. But if you try to make it your objective to, lets say, quit smoking or lose about 100 pounds — it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to stick to a goal like that and succeed by year’s end.
In 2016, I wanted to do something I always dreamed of doing but, for whatever reason, never got around to getting done — that would be reading the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover, within a one-year period. In my particular case, I was done by the Veteran’s Day holiday, so it was a little more than 10 months.
Several years ago, I remember watching Jim Bakker, who was the Pastor and Host of the former ‘PTL (Praise the Lord) Club’ TV show and subsequently went to prison on Fraud charges. After serving his sentence, Bakker became a Pastor again in the popular vacation resort community of Branson Missouri and made a rather startling statement on the interview show I saw him on.
Bakker said that until he went to Prison, he had never read the Bible from cover-to-cover. Then when he knew that he’d be in Prison for several years, along with the fact that a Bible is one of the few things they allow an inmate to have, Bakker felt it was a great opportunity for him to finally read the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover.
Call me gullible and naive if you will, but I always assumed that reading the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover was just a basic prerequisite to graduating from any reputable Minister’s college. I mean, if you love God, you should love His Word — right? People who choose to devote their lives to “Preaching the Gospel” ought to take the time to, at least, read and study the Holy Bible forwards, backwards, and sideways so it becomes a part of their every living fiber and their absolute deepest thoughts.
Truth be told, I think there are more ordained Ministers in the world like Jim Bakker — BEFORE he went to Prison — when it comes to having the discipline to read thru the entire Bible, even once, from cover-to-cover. Granted, I think most Ministers are very familiar with the vast majority of the Bible and have ample resources to locate a scripture within seconds, but in all fairness, the Bible does have some very intimidating sections.
For example, when the Bible gets into the bloodline (or the Genealogy) from Adam to Jesus Christ, you’ve got a ton of names there — a lot of whom have no second mentions. Are “good Christians” expected to memorize all these names and people? Although I sort of think I’m in good company on this issue because it seems like every time I watch the popular TV cartoon show, The Simpsons, they have Rev. Lovejoy preaching a sermon on some portion of the genealogy cited in the Bible, and then they turn the cameras and we see both Homer and Bart sound asleep in their seats. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, but I think the topic of genealogy is just a tough thing for most people to fully comprehend and understand.
And what about all the specific measurements God wanted for the building of Noah’s Ark? Or how about the exact size of a sacrificial altar? Or what are the specifics on how you select and then prepare an animal as a holy burnt offering?
God is very detailed oriented, there’s no doubt about it. I also acknowledge the fact that there are a handful of individuals among us now who could easily memorize the aforementioned Bible scriptures, at least, as well as a lot of folks can memorize baseball or football statistics. I just hope and pray that I’m not held accountable on Judgement Day for not being able to memorize all those particular details. Praise God too that all those hard-to-comprehend details only make up a very small portion of the Bible.
Another thing worth noting here is that I went through an Internet site called, Biblica that offers a Plan it refers to as, The Bible in 365 Days. It not only divided the Bible into 365 parts with approximately 3-4 chapters per day, it also divided the Bible into three different sections: New Testament, Poetry (Psalms and Proverbs), and Old Testament (minus Psalms and Proverbs). Breaking up the Bible that way does make it a little more interesting to read and study, I feel. The listed scriptures for that particular day usually start at a natural starting point, and finishes at a natural ending point. I noticed too that there are a few other websites, and even some books, that offer similar type Bible-in-a-Year plans other than Biblica.
Personally, the only way I think I could’ve read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover, without the aid of the Internet or some type of prescribed Plan would be if I was in Prison like, Pastor Jim Bakker and I had a lot of free time on my hands.
So I guess that just leaves the question as to “why” anybody would want to read the Bible within a year or make it one of their, New Year’s Resolutions — there is a verse of scripture that states, “study to show thyself approved unto God”. So for starters, I’d love to be “approved” by God; I sort of think everybody would. Also, if we Christians accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in our lives, doesn’t it just make sense that we try to learn as much as we possibly can about “the One” who made this all possible?
There’s another verse of scripture — also in the New Testament — which states that it’s God’s Will for our lives to, “be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth.” Now becoming “Saved” or “Born Again” is fairly easy — just read Romans 10:9-10 and ask Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior in your life. The real “tough part” for a person actually wanting to be Saved — are they willing to Repent and Give Up their Sins in order to make Jesus Christ as the absolute Role Model and Standard-Bearer of their life? The second part of the aforementioned scripture, “come to the knowledge of the Truth” — well that’s truly a lifetime commitment and something even the best of Christians may never fully attain, at least here on Earth.
Prior to my 2016 New Year’s Resolution, I was fairly content with just memorizing a couple dozen scriptures that were fitting for either a tee shirt or bumper sticker — like, for example, John 3:16 — For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whom ever believed in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a beautiful verse of scripture which sort of requires hours, if not years of contemplation to try to fully capture the entire scope of its meaning. On the flip-side of that, for a Christian to just be content memorizing a couple dozen “Biggie” verses of scripture is sort of like saying you’ve got a great understanding of God because you took the time to read thru the Cliff Notes publication on the Bible.
There just has to be a lot more to God and Jesus Christ than a very condensed Cliff Notes publication on the Bible, along with a couple dozen “tremendous” verses of scripture that would look great on a vehicle’s bumper sticker. I want to know specifically, what other “hidden gems” does God have for our learning, understanding, and benefit elsewhere in the Bible? What popular cliches do we use in our everyday language that originally derived from God’s Word? Hence the need and desire for me to read and study the entire Bible, from cover-to-cover.
I don’t view myself as a better human being now that I’ve read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover, but I do think it’s a step in the right direction. Actual application — or the active practical “doing” of the Bible — is probably deemed a higher priority or a little more important in God’s eyes, than simple Bible verse memorization. Maybe 2-3 years from now, I may revisit one of these Internet plans and read over the New Testament or the Old Testament within a couple months just to try to keep myself sharp. On many different levels, I still view myself as, God’s Work in Progress, as opposed to being the person I really want to be or maybe becoming the person God wants me to be.
I guess I’ll just keep praying that I’ll eventually wind up where God really wants me to be.
One Bad Decision Away From Homelessness 