The beginning of a new year is a good time to look back on the past year and look forward to the new one.  I’m not very big on New Year’s resolutions, but one thing that I plan to continue this year is my daily Bible reading.  On Dec. 31 I finished reading the Bible in 2009, and on Jan. 1 I began my 2010 trek through the Bible.  This year I am doing my reading in the ESV Bible.

Reading the Bible on a consistent basis is essential for a healthy spiritual life.  You will never grow into a mature Christian without regularly taking in the spiritual food of God’s word.  If you have never read through the entire Bible, why not make 2010 the year in which you change that?  The plan that we are using in my church can be downloaded here. In this plan we read something from both the OT and NT every day. The chart on the web site is marked 2009, but actually you can use it for any non-leap year.

Consistent Bible reading is a habit well worth forming.  The first thing that I did on NewYear’s Day was to begin my 2010 reading.  It gave me a good feeling to get the new year started in the right way.  If you read the Bible every day for several months it can become a regular habit, and you will feel that something is missing if you don’t do your reading on a particular day.  I’m not talking about guilt resulting from a legalistic approach, but rather the feeling of missing out on something familiar and enjoyable.

The first time you read through the Bible you will find some things that are difficult to understand.  After you have read it through three or four times you will find it much less difficult. By the time you have read it through 15 or 20 times it will be like an old friend.

If you are just beginning to read the Bible I have some suggestions for you:

• Remember that some things will be unfamiliar to you.  After you have read through the Bible a few times it will be easier to understand what is going on.  You will begin to see the connections between different parts of Scripture.  The description of the new temple in Ezekiel is reminiscent of Exodus, and the end times prophecy in Daniel is closely related to Revelation.  Today’s reading in Matthew quotes a verse in Micah that I read last week.
• Feel free to skim quickly over the long genealogies or detailed descriptions of the construction of the temple.  These might be worth careful study at some point, but don’t feel guilty if you want to skim over them at this point.
• Try to understand individual passages in the context of the over-arching story of the Bible: Creation–Fall–Redemption.
• Don’t give up if you fall behind.  Reading the Bible in one year is a great goal, but the most important thing is to read it. If it takes you 1.5 or 2 years to get through the Bible that is fine.  Just read it!

Why not make 2010 the year in which you finally read the entire Bible? If you have already read through the Bible, why not do it again?

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There are lots of good reasons for reading through the entire Bible and additional benefits to reading it together as a church, but instead of repeating them all here I will refer you to the article I wrote for my church.

I invite you to join us for our journey through the Bible in 2009.  Over at the CFC Bible Blog you will find the latest articles and comments on the passage of the week as well as a Bible reading chart.  Come on over and join the fun!

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Participants were asked how often they watched any of more than 20 TV shows popular among teens at the time or which were found to have lots of sexual content. The programs included “Sex and the City,” “That ’70s Show” and “Friends.”

Pregnancies were twice as common among those who said they watched such shows regularly, compared with teens who said they hardly ever saw them. There were more pregnancies among the oldest teens interviewed, but the rate of pregnancy remained consistent across all age groups among those who watched the racy programs.

Study lead author Anita Chandra noted that TV-watching was strongly connected with teen pregnancy even when other factors were considered, including grades, family structure and parents’ education level.

This study adds to the growing body of evidence that what you put into your brain does influence your behavior.  Repeated exposure to music, TV shows or movies that depict certain types of behavior as normal or acceptable gradually influences our thinking and hence our behavior.  It is naive and foolish to assume that we somehow won’t be affected by what we allow into our minds.  It is no different from assuming that having terrible eating habits year after year won’t eventually affect your health.

That’s why the Scriptures have so much to say about our thought lives.  For example, Philippians 4:8 says:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

The Greek word translated “dwell” in this passage means “reason about, ponder, think about.”  The NASB translators note says “Lit. ponder these things.”  “Ponder” is a good word that indicates unhurried, careful thought. The ESV translates it, “think about these things.”  The verb is a present tense imperative, which indicates a command to regularly and often ponder these things.

How many movies and TV shows promote the qualities listed in this passage?  How much time should we be spending watching them?  Share your thoughts below by leaving a comment.

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In generations past, the only way that people could listen to music was to sing or play it themselves or to find or hire a musician.  If they wanted to hear a speech, they had to go to a meeting and listen to the speaker.  As a result, they had lots of silence in their lives.  While working in the fields, in the factory or at home they engaged conversed with each other or worked in silence.  When they traveled (on foot or horseback), they traveled in silence or engaged in conversation with fellow travelers.  My hunch is that they had a lot more silence and also a lot more face to face conversation then we have.

Their regular periods of silence, which we experience only rarely, provided the opportunity for reflection, meditation and prayer.  David was a man after God’s own heart, and I’m sure that an important part of his growth process was the long periods of reflection, prayer and worship that he had on the quite hillsides while he watched the family sheep.  If he had been listening to his iPod during that time, I doubt that he would have turned out to be the spiritual giant that he was.

Silence is a very important part of the spiritual life.  In fact, I think that it is impossible to develop significant spiritual depth without adequate times of silence for reflection, prayer and meditation.  But our culture often robs us of that opportunity.  We have grown accustomed to a continual stream of sound and are often uncomfortable with silence.  I realized that whenever I get into my car I have a reflex reaction to immediately turn on the radio, usually set to a news station.  I make the excuse that I need to listen to traffic reports and catch up on world news, but in reality it is simply a habit.  Last spring during Lent I decided to give up listening to the radio when I was in the car, and as a result had more reflective, contemplative drives.  Unfortunately I have returned to the old habit, and probably need to cut back on my radio listening once again.

Why do we seem to need a continual rush of sound?  I have known families that seem to keep their TV on continually whenever they are at home and awake, even if no one is watching it.  As soon as they arrive at home they turn on the TV, and it stays on until the last person goes to bed.  Why do we act like this? Are we uncomfortable with our own thoughts?  Do we need constant sound to escape?  Or have we just grown accustomed to continual noise, and perhaps feel the need for a bit of a rush from continual auditory stimulation?

I love new technology, but we must use it in accordance with our life priorities instead of allowing it to shape our lives of its own accord.  I do own an mp3 player, but I don’t use it very much.  Originally I bought it so that I could listen to Christian music or interesting lectures while I exercise at the gym, but the music that they play there is too loud and I am unwilling to turn my own music up to a high level to drown it out.  Sometimes I wish they would just shut down the music at the gym, but I doubt that they would let me have my way.  Maybe I should invest in some noise canceling head phones.

We could all benefit from unplugging now and then.  Try leaving the car radio/TV/mp3 player off for a few weeks.  Practice the discipline of silence and see what God might be trying to say to you.  If necessary, find some soothing nature sounds or white noise to mask the auditory assault from the world around you. Then look for ways to make the discipline of silence a regular part of your life.

What has been your experience with the practice of silence?  What have you learned, and what challenges have you faced? Share your insights so that we can learn from each other.

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