If, like me, you’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve set out to read the Bible through in a year, you should know that I’m on track to finish the entire thing (New Testament & Psalms twice, rest of the Old Testament once) by Monday, December 31. This is not a cause for bragging (see “lost count” above) but to recommend the one thing that made the definite difference: a plan.
There is today a famine of hearing the Word of God, of not knowing what He has said (cf. Amos 8:11). Make it your goal next year and get a plan.
If you’ve read Radical by David Platt, you know that he recommends getting a plan. He doesn’t recommend any one over another. If you do a Google (or Yahoo or Bing or whatever) search for “bible reading plan,” you get a bazillion links, many of them redundant. Making a choice among them can be bewildering.
So here’s the deal: Justin Taylor of the Gospel Coalition has digested a big batch of the best-known plans, and summarized each one. You can find a plan that matches your preferences and the amount of time you have. The plan I used this year was just a list of references, which meant I could use whatever translation I prefer. Pick any one of them — I don’t care which. But get a plan.
