I wrote this week on a different blogsite that people contemplate their New Year’s Resolutions. I want to address the resolution many Christians make each year: reading the Bible through in a calendar year. I suggest making this a goal instead of a resolution. Resolutions lend themselves to failure. They are typically incomplete. It is easier for us to take goals seriously.

Break down your goal of reading the entire Bible in 2024 into realistic sub-goals. To read the Bible through in a year, I have to set sub-goals, or I will not succeed. This is where a Bible reading plan is helpful. I can know precisely how much of the Bible to read each day to accomplish that task for the year.

Consider changing how you meet your bible reading goal each year to bring variety into your life. Let’s say you want to read the entire Bible every year. During the first year, you may wish to use a reading schedule that starts with the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and leads you through all sixty-six books in order. The following year, you may want to read from the Chronological Bible, where biblical events are organized according to their occurrence. In the third year, you might want to read through the Bible in a different translation. In the fourth year, you may wish to read through the Bible in four daily readings: Old Testament poetry; Old Testament Genesis through Esther or Isaiah through Malachi; a New Testament gospel; and Acts-Revelation. Each year, you read through the Bible, but the perspectives differ.

Consider setting the goal of reading the entire Bible in 2024. May God bless you in this pursuit.