From Resolution to Tradition
The start of a new year often inspires people to begin living the lives they want to have; usually, this focuses on goals that gauge the development of the body, mind, or soul, such as health, relationships, work, or spirituality. These are often referred to as “New Year's resolutions”, but more often than not, once the hype has settled, most people struggle to hold onto these new processes that impact daily living. I have made many attempts at bettering my life through various New Year's resolutions, but for the most part, I lost interest and gave up.
However, there was one time when this attempt to try again changed my life for the better.
A few years ago, I realised I had never read the entire Bible (start to finish) and decided I wanted to be intentional about completing such an important goal, so it became my resolution. I had heard some people talking about a Bible plan called “Shred”, where you read the whole thing cover to cover in 30 days, reading it like you would read a good book in big chunks within a small timeframe so when the new year started, I began listening along to the Bible as directed by the “shred” plan, this new method helped, and I'm pleased to say that, although it was hard, I completed it.
Several years later, I no longer consider this a resolution, but rather, it has become a tradition where every January, I embark on the monumental task of reading the Bible in only 30 days (though sometimes I do take a few extra days). You see, what was once a goal to complete a task, changed into a treasured experience where I can read the Bible as God's story to humanity. This big-picture approach shifts my perspective and bathes me in his love for humanity, which fills me with hope. In many ways, reading a verse or chapter at a time sections God's story to fit my needs, but reading a lot in a small window of time tells me who he is outside my needs and my growth. Essentially, it's about him, not me. It is this realignment from self to God that changed the goal of the endeavour, transforming a resolution into a tradition.
I’ve noticed that when I read the Bible in small bites (so to speak), I often interpret it with a contemporary application, but when I read big blocks of chapters continuously, I see things previously missed, themes stand out, and patterns of awe and wonder emerge; this process limits my ability to make every passage about myself instead reorientating my mind to see Gods story in its original context far removed from my contemporary critique. I am by no means saying that this form of reading should replace devotionals or passage focused bible reading, but I do think that there is a benefit to combining or alternating the methods, and if you have never read the bible as a story where you read whole books at a time in a small time-frame then I strongly encourage you to do so. I particularly love how the Bible begins and ends with God's sovereignty, highlighting his power and care for his creation.
Genesis 1:1 (ESV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Revelation 22:21 (ESV)
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
This is the God we find inside the pages of the Bible. When we hear his story in big sections, we can be surprised by the magnitude of God within humanity's history, the lengths he went to in order to be connected to a failing, disobedient people, and how all types of individuals engaged him in the way they chose to live their lives.
Imagine watching your favourite movie, only instead of watching the whole thing in one sitting, you decide to watch it in 20 min intervals per day until it's finished, while the message of the film does not change you will notice things previously missed, you likely will change your perspective on aspects found within, over and over again because you have time to ponder on sections that seemed unimportant before. But now imagine if you did both the sectioned version over time and the normal from start to finish. Suddenly, your understanding of the film would be far more layered than before.
This is essentially what I'm suggesting occurs when we combine or alternate the methods in which we read the Bible, and why it has now become a tradition in my life because although I hope to be ever-growing in faith, community and purpose, I don’t want to leave a legacy that focuses on what I can do or what I achieved; I would much rather be known for how my life glorified God which is easier to do when I have absorbed his words through various forms.
You see, getting to know God is the ongoing love story of my life; it's not always pretty; sometimes, I'm great at it, and other times, I am careless and unappreciative. But God remains despite my failures, so as we enter into another year, I pray that we would all spend less energy focusing on what we can do to better our lives but rather that we find a way to seek God and know him so that our lives are grown and made better not as the goal but merely by default as God is glorified in our deepening relationship.
#30dayshred #resolutions #traditions #devotion #lovestory