Setting a goal of reading the entire Bible in 365 days is a great way to motivate yourself to do the most life-changing thing ever! What a great New Year’s resolution! Reading through to the end, you will discover the most wonderful purpose in your life. And on every day leading up to that, you will discover God’s love woven through thousands of years and carried through many generations.
Purpose of the Bible
As you are reading, you will see God’s vision for humankind unfold. Is there drama? Yes! There is murder, affairs, deception, envy, and so much more. That may have caught your attention, but evil is what God wants us to overturn. He wants to conquer it by showing us His righteous ways via the Bible’s timeless accounts from which we can learn how we should live. It is full of true ancient stories, radical conquests, redemption, miracles, beautiful healing poetry, and most importantly, extreme love. That’s what the Bible is: a love story for mankind, from our heavenly Father, to us, every one of His children.
By the way, the Bible is the #1 bestseller of all time, with an estimate 5-7 billion copies. Look it up! About 80 million copies are printed every year.
Here is the format for this great feat: You will have a daily reading assignment posted by 5 a.m. (I use the schedule from the One Year Chronological Bible NLT.) After each days’ reading, I comment on interesting passages and ask questions about confusing or complicated parts. They are answered by Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area.
Choose the best version for you
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to invest in a good Bible. There are so many translations to choose from that it would be wise to ask a pastor or mature Christian for their recommendation. When you have your list of versions to consider, log onto biblegateway to see which version you like best. Type a verse in the search bar to compare. Under the search bar to the left is an icon that is two offset pages. You can click on it four times to view a total of five translations side by side. Click on the pulldown to the right of each version to select a different one. Bible Gateway offers more than sixty versions. Although the different versions tell the same basic story, some can use too much interpretive liberty. My favorites are, in this order: NLT, NIV, NASB, ESV, ISV. (It is also fun to occasionally refer to more than one version to understand more of a certain passage than you would only using one. This article recommends doing just that.)
Also, choosing a “study Bible” is extremely useful. Good study Bibles have synopses for each book and lots of footnotes to help explain confusing language, customs, culture, etc. Remember, the Bible starts out with accounts that are roughly 3,000 years old. Because I am a bit OCD, especially about doing things in order, I use a chronological version. It is the same text as a traditional Bible, just tweaked a bit to be organized chronologically. To gain more insight, I am supplementing it with the NLT Study Bible.
To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1. Let’s go!
This blog was started to:
— to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible before starting Livin’ Light
— to create a resource for others reading the Bible in a year
— offer a resource for those searching for truth
— create a platform for sharing faith
— gather design ideas for Christian products sold at livinlight.org
