The following is an edited version of a letter I sent to a group of men I meet with on a weekly basis. In addition to my thoughts below, this link to a piece by Justin Taylor is quite helpful
Dear Friends,
It’s that time of year again, we’re
running out of days in one year and preparing to begin a new year with blank
calendar pages – or at the very least with the promise of the unknown invading
our lives from time to time. Many of us are saying, “Where did the year go?” Likely
most of us don’t take time to answer the question. The more time-saving devices we have the less
time we have – can someone please explain that?
This morning I was reminded of the words
of Jesus to our Father, “For their sakes I sanctity Myself, that they
themselves also may be sanctified in truth,” (John 17:19). The word “sanctify”
has a double meaning – to be set apart and to be holy. The person who is holy
is set apart to the Lord, and the person who is truly set apart to the Lord is
holy. The primary designation for followers of Jesus Christ in the New
Testament is “saints”, which could also be translated “holy ones”. Christians
are to be set apart to Jesus Christ and in being set apart (dedicated) to Jesus
Christ they are to be holy. This designation appears around sixty times in the
New Testament.
Jesus also says to the Father, “Sanctity
them in the truth, Your word is truth,” (John 17:17). In Ephesians 5:25 – 27 Paul writes,
“Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for
her, so that He might sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of water with the
word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no
spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” We
are sanctified by the Word, we are cleansed by the Word, we are set apart by
the Word; but just as our flesh needs to have actual contact with water to
cleanse our bodies, so our hearts and minds and souls and spirits require
actual contact with the Word of God for us to experience cleansing, holiness,
and maturity in Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “For the word of
God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as
far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to
judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart,” Hebrews 4:12.
In a world spiraling downward and
out-of-control, descending into darkness, our generation desperately needs a
church washed and cleansed and made holy by the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus set Himself apart for our sakes, will we set ourselves apart for the sake
of others?
We can only follow Jesus as we obey His
word, and we can only obey His word in maturity as we know His word. Jesus
says, “He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and
he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will
disclose Myself to him,” John 14:21. How can we keep His commandments if we
don’t know them? How can His word wash us if we don’t have contact with it? How
can we be blessings to others if we are not set apart, dedicated, to our Lord
Jesus?
I have attached the New Testament
reading schedule that I sent out for 2015 in the hope that some of us will
continue to read the New Testament on a daily basis.
There are many other fine schedules of
Bible reading available on the Internet, including those which will guide you
through the entire Bible in one year, two years, and three years. I do think
that it is important to read the New Testament through each year for it
contains the life and words of our Lord Jesus, the history of the early church,
and the teachings of the Apostles and their associates.
I thought about also providing a
schedule of Old Testament readings but decided instead to make a couple of suggestions.
1.
Read
one Psalm a day. When you come to Psalm 119 split it up, or if you come to
another Psalm that is quite long split it up. When you’ve traveled through
Psalms pick up Proverbs (some folks read a chapter of Proverbs every day
throughout the year – it’s filled with practical wisdom for daily living).
2.
Select
a section of the Old Testament and read through that during the year. Or read
in one section during the first quarter, another in the second quarter, etc.
This way you will have read in various sections of the Old Testament by
year-end. An example: in the first quarter you might read Isaiah and Jeremiah
(Major Prophets); in the second quarter 1 & 2 Samuel (history); in the
third quarter Exodus and Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch); in the fourth quarter
Job and Song of Solomon (wisdom and poetry). Don’t be in a rush, get to know
the landscape.
I
have one suggestion that I’d like you to please consider: select a New
Testament book and really get to know it during the year. Read it, read it
again, read it again in different translations, ponder it, use it as a prayer
guide, let it soak into your soul. If you select a short book like Colossians
you may find that within a few months you’re ready to move on to a new book,
maybe another short book like Philippians, if that is the case then great, but
continue to revisit Colossians. Make the NT book your home for a year, let it
become your friend, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you throughout the year
through the NT book you select.
The LORD said through Hosea, “My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” (Hosea 4:6a). The prophet Amos (8:11)
wrote this, “Behold, days are coming declares the LORD God, when I will send a
famine on the land, nor a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather
for hearing the words of the LORD.”
In these tumultuous times anything that
diverts our attention from the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word is a distraction,
we can live life caught up in the headlines of the day or we can live life
rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ and His Word – if we choose to navigate by the
weathervane of current events we will have no certain center of gravity and be
of little use to anyone; if we fix our eyes on Jesus and live in His Word then
we have a sure anchor of the soul and can live lives of sacrificial service to
others. Jesus teaches that he who seeks to save his life will lose it, and he
who loses his life for My sake and the Gospels, the same will save it. We can
show others a better way, the Way of Jesus.
Much, much love - Bob
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