While waiting in line at a recent estate sale to pay for a book on decorating ideas, I realized that I’ve seen Bibles at every estate sale I’ve attended and mentioned it to the cashier.
“I’ve gone to a lot of estate sales and I’ve been happy to see Bibles and Christian books at every one of them,” I said. “I think that’s wonderful, but I wonder how many people have read the Bible all the way through.”
The cashier, a woman who appeared to be in her early 50s, agreed.
“I know what you mean,” she said. “I’m sorry to say that I only just recently read mine all the way through. So late in life.”
“I’m the same,” I replied. “I’m reading it now for the first time all the way through. I’ve tried several times in the past but couldn’t make it past all the ‘begats,’ but this time I was determined. When I started the ‘begats’ I prayed and asked God to show me interesting things to help me make it through them and he did. In fact, God has shown me interesting and wonderful things all through the Bible, making me look forward to reading more and seeing what else I can find.”
I grew up going to church services every Wednesday night and three times on Sunday. I also went to a Christian school five days a week, Christian camp every summer and every revival our church participated in. I’ve heard countless sermons, memorized numerous Bible verses, heard all the Bible stories (or so I thought), but never read the Bible all the way through.
Growing up with God as the foundation in my life and having the Bible for guidance allowed me the ability to march to my own drum and not follow the crowd, even if the crowd happened to be my friends.
As an adult, I’ve heard people use various verses from the Bible to prove a point, but don’t realize the true context. You have to read the whole chapter, sometimes a few chapters, but really it’s just better to read the whole Bible to have the complete context, because more detailed information is often found in other witness accounts provided in other books of the Bible.
I decided to make my 2016 New Year’s resolution to read the whole Bible from the beginning, past the “begats,” and to the end, so that I would know God’s complete context. Otherwise, it’s like giving a book report after only reading the cliff notes.
One of the new things I learned in Genesis was that in the beginning, plants were watered from nearby rivers and underground springs misting the ground, and that it had never rained before God told Noah to build the ark. I admire Noah even more so now for his faith and trust in God.
As I began the” begats,” I realized their importance for God to have laid them out in such detail. I found it interesting to see who was the son or daughter of whom and that they led to Jesus. I also realized these events didn’t occur so long ago, and that Jesus walked the earth a little more than 2,000 years ago.
In Acts, Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples’ mouths to live in them. I am moved deeply when I picture this, because it’s so personal.
It is taking me two years to read the Bible from beginning to end, but I often find chapters that I love so much that I have to read over them several times and sit and contemplate them. I also enjoy sharing my interesting new discoveries with others that I come across in my daily life.
Currently I am at the end of Romans. I’m looking forward to finding out the rest that I have to discover as I near the end. My scheduled completion date is December 31, 2017.
Next, I am going to read the “Chronological Order Bible” to see the order of the historic events as they occurred. I challenge everyone to make reading the Bible from beginning to end your New Year’s Resolution for 2018.
If you love history, science, literature, astronomy, weather, poetry, adventure, fantasy and romance, you will find them in the Bible. And for anyone who feels like something is missing in your life, you’ll find what you seek by reading the Holy Bible.
Happy Birthday, Jesus! Merry Christmas!
