It's Finished

I awoke earlier than the rest of the family today. So I made coffee, and sat down to read today's Scripture reading assignment from Revelation. And since the family was still sleeping, I kept reading.

They're still sleeping, and I've finished reading through the Bible. It feels great! Now I can say I've done it. But I don't plan on doing it again next year. Some of you may be surprised by that. So let me explain why I'm doing something different.

For one thing, I rarely use the same tool to guide my devotional times two years in a row. They say that variety is the spice of life, and although I don't know if that's true about everything, it is true of my spiritual journey.

Second, throughout the past year, I often found myself laboring to get through the assigned reading without taking time to reflect. Please don't misunderstand me, there's value to that. But during study for sermons and classes, I spend significant time reading large sections of the Bible. I prefer shorter passages for my devotional times.

Third, I found myself praying less. The length of time it takes to read the assigned reading often left me pressed to move on to other things without spending much time in prayer. That's not good. I would rather spend more time in prayer than in reading for my devotional times.

Next year, I'm going to use a different tool...an old classic...

What is it? Stay tuned!