I don’t do Bible reading plans. They just don’t work out well for me. It always turns into an epic fail, somewhere between week 3 and Leviticus.
So when people on Twitter started buzzing about #NTx12 (reading the New Testament through in 30 days, for 12 months), I complained to Chris about my personal disdain for Bible reading plans, how they were too much pressure, etc.
When I got done ranting, my much-more-Christlike-than-me husband looked at me out of the corner of his eye and said, “I was planning on suggesting Destiny Church do that plan for the first month.”
And there I was, faced with a dilemma. Was I going to be a pathetic whiner or a submissive wife and spiritual church-planter?
I’m not going to lie. “Whine” was pretty much my first reaction. But something stopped me (I think we can safely assume it was Holy Spirit). It came down to this: Was I willing to spend extra time immersing myself in more of the Word than normal? Um, it didn’t really sound like a bad deal when I looked at it that way.
So now that I’ve got my heart behaving properly, I’m actually really excited about this plan! For one, it’s only 30 days long. That barely gives me time to fall off the wagon!
Also, the way YouVersion has it set up, you get weekends “off.” Before you cry “unspiritual,” think about it… You don’t get sidetracked on the days that you have a routine.
No, it’s more like… SUNDAY MORNING. When your hair won’t do right, and the kids are crying because they have to take a bath before church, and the dog wants to walk around the block 4 times before he’ll do his business. After you manage to get everyone piled in the car more or less alive, you realize you haven’t done your Bible reading, but you think, “Well, at least they’re going to read the Bible at church.”
THAT’S when you get behind. And then it’s a rolling snowball of behindness, that leaves you having to read all four Gospels in one day, just to catch up. So I’m good with weekends off.
And the last reason I’m excited is because I’m reading in The Message and I love the fresh perspective. I did my first day of the plan and I basically bawled through the whole thing. Because Jesus is just that beautiful.
So you want to join me? I’ll give you a hint. Even though the plan started on January 1st, today is the first day with reading, so you’re not behind! Once you click “start plan” on YouVersion, edit your start date to January 1 and it will correctly place you on Day 3 and you can start reading today!