LET’S READ IT!

READ: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. – 2 Timothy 3:16

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelation 19-22

After 30 years as a pastor, a New Jersey minister concluded, “The Bible is the best-selling, least-read, and least-understood book.” In his view, “Biblical illiteracy is rampant.”

George Gallup, the foremost religion pollster in the US, agrees: “We revere the Bible,” he says, “but we don’t read it.” In a recent survey, 64 percentage of those questioned said they were too busy to read the Bible. The average household has three Bibles but less than half the people in the US can name the first book in the Old Testament. One survey found that 12 percentage of its Christian respondents identified Noah’s wife as Joan of Arc!

The solution? Read the Bible! Join me in a commitment to read the entire Bible through in the coming year. It will take about 15 minutes a day to follow the reading guide in this booklet. Are we too busy for that?

The goal is not information, but transformation. Someone summarized 2 Timothy 3:16 by saying: “God’s Word shows us which road to take (doctrine). It tells us when we get off track (reproof); how to get back on (correction); and how to stay on (instruction in righteousness).”

God’s Word is a precious gift. So let’s read it through this coming year. – David McCasland

If you’ve never read the Bible through,

There’s a special joy awaiting you:

You could start the New Year out just right

Walking with the Lord and in His light. – Hess

The Bible: The more you read it, the more you love it; the more you love it, the more you read it.

POETIC JUSTICE

READ: Revelation 16:1-7

Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments. – Revelation 16:7

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelation 16-18

A group of rowdy teenagers spray-painted obscenities on the brick walls of a local high school. The police charged them with malicious destruction of property. The judge sentenced them to probation with no jail time – but only if they could get every bit of paint off the walls, including the cracks between the bricks. It took those days!

Another judge gave some vandals the opportunity to learn all about dry-walling – by repairing a home they were found guilty of ransacking.

I admire judges like these who hand down punishments that fit the crimes!

Our Lord also has a sense of poetic justice – a way of making sure the guilty get paid back in a way that suits what they’ve done, sometimes in a way they least expect. Think of Haman, who was hanged from the same gallows he built for Mordecai (Est. 7:7-10). In the future, as Revelation 16:6 tells us, those who “have shed the blood of saints and prophets” will be given “blood to drink. For it is their just due.” In these examples, the guilty are punished in a way that fits their crimes.

In Revelation 16:7, we read, “Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” We can be glad they are not only poetic, but right! – Dave Egner

The best of judges on this earth

Aren’t always right or fair;

But God, the Righteous Judge of all,

Wrongs no one in His care. – Egner

God’s judgment may not be immediate, but it is inevitable.

A WORTHY EFFORT

READ: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelation 13-15

Have you heard about the “lawn-chair astronaut”? A 31-year-old truck-driver attached 40 large, helium-filled balloons to a lawn chair. Then, with a CB radio, an altimeter, a parachute, and a life jacket, he began his ascent into the “wild blue yonder.” He also took a pellet gun so that he could shoot as many of the balloons as necessary when he was ready to come back to earth.

When he reached an altitude of 3 miles, he decided it was time to come down, so he started popping balloons with his gun. As he tried to land, he got caught in a power line. He later said, “My family used to think I was crazy. Now they want me to write a book, and my sister wants me to get an agent.”

Well, I certainly would never encourage anyone to attempt a dangerous stunt like that. I can think of a number of other activities that will do more than simply get your name in the news. As a Christian, you must set out to do things that are worthy of the effort and risks. Your goal should be to fight the good fight, to finish the race, and to keep the faith (2 Tim. 4:7).

Striving to attain spiritual goals brings personal satisfaction, imparts blessing to others, and offers an eternal reward (v. 8). That’s a worthy effort! – Richard De Haan

O Thou who died on Calvary

To save my soul and make me free,

I’ll consecrate my life to Thee,

My Saviour and my God! – Hudson

Is what you’re living for worth dying for?

THE UNTOUCHABLES

READ: Mark 1:40-45

Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him. – Mark 1:41

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelation 9-12

Of all diseases, leprosy is the only one singled out by the Law of Moses and linked with sin. It’s not that having leprosy was sinful, nor was it the result of sin. Rather, the disease was seen as a graphic symbol of sin. If we could see sin, it would look something like leprosy.

In Mark 1 we read about a leper who fell on his knees before Jesus and made his request: “If You are willing, You can make me clean” (v. 40). It’s the first instance in the Gospels of a plain request for healing – touching and profound in its simplicity.

Jesus was “moved with compassion” (v. 41). People normally felt sympathy for the sick and troubled, but not for lepers. Because they were considered in those days as “unclean” both ceremonially and physically (Lev. 13:45; 22:4), they were repulsive in every way to most people, who stayed as far away from them as possible. Nevertheless, Jesus was “willing” to reach out to this desperate, disease-ridden man and actually touch him! At that very moment the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Why did Jesus touch this man? He could have healed him just by saying, “Be cleansed.” But His touch illustrated His great compassion. Jesus loves sinners. Do we? – David Roper

Jesus taught when He lived on this earth

How to show love to the lost;

So don’t be afraid to give a kind touch,

No matter how much it may cost. – Carbaugh

To love sinners is to be like Jesus.

FILLING UP EMPTY

READ: Psalm 62

Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. – Psalm 62:10

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelation 1-3

“This house ain’t worth robbing,” said a thief who seemed to feel he was wasting his time. According to a news report, the burglar broke into a home and held the owner at knifepoint while looking for money. He ransacked the place but turned up only $3 in change, $5 in a wallet, and a few pieces of cheap jewellery.

The thief apparently concluded that the homeowner was worse off than he was, so he gave back to him the $8 he was going to steal. “I think he was disgusted,” said the 32-year-old victim. “He couldn’t believe that was all the money I had.”

We might smile at the bad fortune of this thief. But we can often have a similar kind of experience. It happens whenever we try to take something that God has not given us. Following the path of envy, jealousy, adultery, theft (Ps. 62:10), or just plain stubborn wilfulness, always results in more trouble than profit.

David, the psalmist, learned this the hard way. When he stole Uriah’s wife, he ended up with far more trouble and far less happiness than he had bargained for (2 Sam. 11 – 12).

Father, help us to believe that it never pays to take what You have not given. Help us not to waste our lives chasing things that leave You out and leave us empty. – Mart De Haan

The little choices we must make

Will chart the course of life we take;

We either choose the path of light

Or wander off in darkest night. – D. De Haan

Sin is never worth the trouble.

A PROMISED GIFT

READ: Isaiah 9:1-7

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. – Isaiah 9:6

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 John, 3 John, Jude

I read several years ago about a woman who hurriedly purchased 50 Christmas cards without looking at the message inside. She quickly signed and addressed all but one, and then dropped them in a mailbox. Just imagine her dismay when later she glanced inside the one unmailed card and read these words:

This card is just to say

A little gift is on the way.

No doubt there were 49 people wondering what happened to their presents.

How different was God’s promise to us! Many years before the Saviour was born, the Lord spoke through Isaiah, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). And in verse 6 of chapter 9 we read, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” Did God keep His word? Indeed He did! Galatians 4:4 states, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son.”

On this special day, as we commemorate the birth of Christ, let’s thank God that He meant what He said. He not only promised, but He also gave. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15). – Richard De Haan

On Christmas morning long ago

Into this world of sin and woe

The blessed Saviour came;

God’s wondrous gift of love was He,

God’s gift to lost humanity –

O glory to His name! – Staples

No gift is more needed by a dying world than a living Saviour.

SWEET LITTLE JESUS BOY

READ: John 1:1-14

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. – John 1:11

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 John 3-5

On Christmas Eve 1932, Robert McGimsey attended a midnight church service in New York City and then headed back to his one-room apartment. As he walked the final blocks, he passed the open doors of private clubs where people were shouting and swearing and singing. Others were so drunk they had passed out on the sidewalk.

What a strange way to celebrate the birth of the most perfect Person who ever lived on this earth, McGimsey thought. We seem to have missed the whole significance of His life. That night McGimsey wrote his thoughts on the back of an envelope. These words, written like the spirituals he had loved growing up in the southern United States, flowed out of his heart:

Sweet little Jesus Boy,

They made You be born in a manger.

Sweet little Holy Child, didn’t know who You was.

Didn’t know You’d come to save us, Lord,

To take our sins away.

Our eyes was blind, we couldn’t see,

We didn’t know who You was.

The song offers an apology to the Christ-child for not recognizing Him when He came to this earth. But every year gives us an opportunity to look again at Jesus’ birth with new eyes of understanding and acceptance.

Will we recognize and honour Him as our Lord and King this Christmas? – David McCasland

The hinge of history is found on the door of a Bethlehem stable.