New Year's Resolutions--Again...

Have you made any New Year's resolutions? Well here I go again. Probably about 3 times a year or more I will be asked by someone, "What can I read to know the Bible better?" It's a thrilling question to someone who has invested their life into the teaching of the Word. Every time I am asked it, I answer the same. "How about the Bible?" I'll say.

Let me reduce this to the simplest form I can. If you wanted to get to know your next door neighbor, what would be the best way to do it? Would it be to ask another neighbor who has known the person in question? To be sure, that would give some information and maybe even good information but then again, the information could be skewed, slanted or biased.

Would it be to hang around other people who know the neighbor in question? Again, you might learn some things about the neighbor but remember I asked, "What would be the best way to get to know someone?"

Wouldn't the most reliable, most efficient way to get to know someone be by hanging around with that person; talking with that person, seeing that person involved in various circumstances in various places and times?

Well knowing God is no different. Remember John begins his gospel by saying. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." So the best way to get to know Him is not by reading what someone else says about Him but by spending time with Him frequently. And we do that by reading the Bible not by reading books about the Bible.

So grab one of those reading schedules that lay out a daily reading plan. It will help you stay disciplined. And for heaven's sake, don't expect to understand everything you read. I have been studying the Bible for three decades with advanced degrees and I don't even come close to understanding everything.

But over time, you will gain a new sense of who God is and a new feel for what is and isn't in the Bible. So if you're going to make one resolution this year, try making it to spend time with the Creator of the world each day. And when you miss a day--like I do--don't beat yourself up; remember this is for your pleasure in spending time with the King. It's not to gain you points; Jesus has taken care of that!