A New Year of Dwelling in the Word

It's a new day in a new year. Although the calendar is a arbitrary way of slicing up time, it is the method most of us use. Each day is a new opportunity to make plans, change course, or dream new dreams. For many the idea of making resolutions in the new year is silly. If you have made resolutions in the past, but failed to keep them you might be hesitant to make new ones this year. So don't. Don't make any resolutions. Why make resolutions that you aren't going to keep.

Why not make a plan instead? Instead of a vague resolution like "I will lose weight this year." Why not come up with an actual plan? There are thousands of places that you can borrow a plan from. They all typically involve: healthy eating, exercise, and accountability. Why not select a weight loss program and ask family and friends to spend the next 6 weeks making changes? Make a plan (or borrow one). Take it one day at a time. Do it together.

Why not approach our spiritual growth in a similar fashion? As I began pondering the new year, Colossians 3:16 came to mind. Paul states, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Col. 3:16). How can I let the word of Christ dwell in me richly?

In order for the word to dwell in someone, they must dwell in the word. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). How do you dwell in the word of Christ? By reading, studying, memorizing, praying, and meditating upon the word of God.

Let's not resolve to do these things for the new year. Let's make a plan to accomplish these these things in the new year.

1. Reading the Bible in the New Year.

There are several plans out there that will take you through the whole Bible in one year. Some will take you through the New Testament in a year. Some plans last two or three years. Some plans can be completed in as little as 10-15 minutes a day, and some require much more time. Some focus on several passages, while others focus on one book at a time. Find a plan and stick to it. Invite friends and family to read with you.

Justin Taylor put together a list of Bible reading plans. You can find them here.

Ligonier Ministries also put together a list. You can find it here.

Joe Carter offered different approach to Bible reading in a year. Check it out here.

2. Study the Bible in the New Year.

Again there are several resources out there that could help you accomplish this, but I will recommend three basic resources that will help you grow in your study of the Bible.

Living by the Book by Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks
Read the Bible for Life by George H. Guthrie
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

3. Memorizing the Bible in the New Year.

Again, there are several resources available to help you with memorizing Scripture. I use Fighter Verses on my iphone, but you can access them on here.

Here are a couple of articles to encourage you: Five Tips for Bible Memory and Are We Using Our Memory for the Glory of God.

4. Praying the Bible in the New Year.

Donald Whitney's book Praying the Bible is a great resource. It is simple and straight forward. It doesn't take a lot of time to read, and can be put into to practice quickly.

5. Meditating on the Bible in the New Year.

Donald Whitney's methods of meditation is my go-to resource. You can find a copy here.


What is your plan for dwelling in Christ this year? Why not pick a Bible reading plan and print out a few copies to give to family and friends? Why not get a few resources and begin working through the process? Don't leave your spiritual growth the chance this year. Make a plan. Stick to it. Get others involved.

Note: I chose the Daily Bible Reading Plan found in the ESV Study Bible. Bro. Ray Gilliland, a mentor and friend, recommended reading through a study Bible in a year, so this year I'm hope to read through the ESV study Bible.

Filling the Empty Cup

Sometimes I feel like a empty cup, yearning to be filled.  I realize that this a symptom of my shallowness, and not a sign of unfathomable depths.  David's cup ran over, and he was a man who lived deep and wide.  He knew that the inexhaustible riches of God's grace could never dry up.  There is no moment in David's life where he truly lacked confidence in God's provision.  Even in the moments where David appears to express doubt his immediate response is to call himself to renewed trust.

I can think of a few reasons we might feel "empty."  The first reason that springs to mind is grief.  It is natural to the human condition to feel a sense of emptiness in the face of a loss.  This feeling of emptiness is not sinful in and of itself.  If permitted to turn into despair of bitterness, it can become sin.  The second reason we might feel empty is that we have labored long and hard with very time for rest.  In these moments, feelings of emptiness are mostly likely symptoms of exhaustion.  The last reason for feeling empty is a failure to commune with God through prayer and Bible study.  The less time we spend with God, the emptier we feel.  Other reasons for feeling empty may exist, but I would like to look at the third reason a little farther.

There is a temptation to live in the shallow end of faith.  Because we lack self-discipline, we find Bible study to be dull and boring.  Often, Bible reading can take tremendous amounts of intellectual energy and yield meager results.  This experience generates frustration which in turn creates a pattern of neglect.  However, reading is a skill that diminishes with neglect.  The old expression, "If you don't use it, you lose it," applies to the skill of reading and its sister discipline, thinking. We read through passages without any sense of their historical setting, their relation to other Scripture, or how we should respond to these timeless truths.

Prayer is little different.  Most of our praying barely moves beyond the rote prayers of childhood.  We have lost the sense of majesty that prayer should instill in our hearts.  He have the privilege of speaking to the Creator of the Universe, our gracious heavenly Father, and yet we treat it like is inconsequential.  We reason that we don't really need to pray, because God knows what we are thinking anyway.  Although he does know our every thought, he still commands us to pray.

I think most people want to only want to wade into the mercy of God, because they are afraid that if they jump into the deep end of faith they'll lose themselves.  To a point, they are right.  However, it is only in losing their lives that they will find them.  The solution to this feeling of emptiness is to fill ourselves up with God.  Or rather, to allow God to fill us up with himself.  We do this by staying in the Word, not to learn about God, but know him.  Along with the diligent labor of studying God's Word, we must also make much work of prayer.  We must become the kind of people who move past simplistic praying, and who are instead transformed through prayer.

What about you?  Do you feel empty?  Are you spending time each day with God in his Word and in prayer?  If your cup is empty, pray: "Lord, here is my cup. Please fill it up."

Word Search Ends in Good Discovery

"Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord" (Prov. 16:20, ESV).

How much time would you say that you spend in the Word of God each day?  Would you say 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour, or maybe more?  How many hours are there in a day? 24.   That means there are 1,440 minutes in a day.  If we tithed our time in the same way we do our money, that would mean dedicating 144 minutes, or 2 hours and 24 minutes, of every day to the Lord.  It has been suggested that it takes a little more that 70 hours to read the entire Bible out loud.  Let's say it took 72 hours (4,320 minutes) to read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  Reading the Bible for 144 minutes every day means we would be able to read the Bible 12 times in a year.  That breaks down to once a month.  Of course, if we tithed our time, we might not spend all of it every day reading the Scripture.  We must also remember prayer, mediation, evangelism, and other things should do to serve the Lord.  I'm not suggesting that we spend all day reading the Scripture, because God has given us other responsibilities.  My point is that we need to spend some time in Scripture each day.

Solomon's conclusion is that good comes from giving thought to the word.  It is possible that he his is speaking in the sense of listening to both sides of a story.  He may be say that we need to listen to everything before we draw a conclusion.  Then, and only then, will we be able to make the right (wise) decision.  More probably, Solomon is referring to the Word of God.  This proverb links considering the word with trusting the Lord.  In this verse, both are the sure source of positive outcome.  Simply put, good comes from giving thought to the word, and blessing comes from trust God.

This passage compels us to give thought to the Word of God, because it brings us into the realm of his blessing.  This line of thought resonates with other passages of Scripture.  Psalm 1 states that the blessed man is one who rejects sinful life, because of his commitment to God and his Word.  The person who lives in obedience to the Word will be fruitful and prosperous in all he does.  Solomon's conclusion is consistent with the rest of Scripture.  Therefore, we should listen to his wisdom.  If we discover good by giving thought to the Word, then we should give the best of our mental energies to contemplating it.

We shouldn't, however, merely contemplate on the Word.  It isn't enough to think about it.  Good is only discovered in contemplation that comes from faith.  In other words, it is only when we search the Scriptures with a believing heart that they yield their vast treasures to us.  When we fail to spend time in the Word every day we rob ourselves.  We miss an opportunity to spend time with our precious Savior, who died in our place, so that we might become the righteousness of God.  We miss out on how to discern his voice of the sea of voices that seek to lead us astray.  We lose the opportunity to trained for righteous service.  We remain ineffective and unfruitful.  When we neglect the Bible, we condemn ourselves to a life of chasing shadows and signs; of always yearning to hear the voice of God, but never hearing it; of hoping for blessing, but never receiving it in its fullness. 

However, if we, in faith, give the Word serious thought, we will discover good.  We will learn that God still speaks, that he loves us, that the mess we call life has a purpose beyond anything we can fully comprehend, that he is always in control, and that he is always, always holy and righteous.  We discover good in the Word, because we first discover God there.