With the new year approaching, I started to think about some plans for next year. One thing I decided I’m going to try and do is to read through the whole Bible in 2012. And I’d like to ask if you want to join me.

There are stacks of Bible reading plans out there, but in the end, after looking at a few, I decided to make my own. I’ve just called it the One-Year Bible Reading Plan (loosely based around another plan called the ‘Bible Reading plan for Shirkers and Slackers’ – great name!).

I decided to do my own version, because I wanted a plan that would:

• Get me through the OT once and the NT twice
• Allow me to read a variety of biblical books during any given week
• Allow me to choose what I feel like reading as the year goes along, rather than having every day of the year planned out specifically in advance
• Not fall apart if I missed a day (which I inevitably will)

The plan I put together is my attempt to do that. Here it is, in case anyone finds it useful.

Other plans work in slightly different ways. Another very well known one is called the ‘M’Cheyne Reading Plan’. This plan gets you through the OT once and the Psalms and NT twice in a year. It spells out exactly what to read on every day of the year. It can be easily adapted to get you through the Bible in two years instead of one (just do two readings each day instead of all four). I wanted something a bit different, but this is an excellent plan. It also has the advantage of an excellent blog by Don Carson which provides a daily reflection to match one of that day’s readings: www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/loveofgod

Reading the whole Bible in a year is quite a commitment. Whether or not you’ve ever tried something like this before, I’d really like to encourage you to give it a go. Each day’s reading should only take about 15 minutes on average. I know finding even that much time can be very hard sometimes, but 15 minutes a day is doable, and the benefits will be enormous.