Mona Selden writes daily devotions for her church, Marion Baptist, in south-central Virginia. She is co-host with her pastor on The Mosaic of Marion podcast. She is the author of two 31-day devotionals. Her writing and teaching are done with the desire to help others get to know God better through His Word. Mona’s husband is USAF Retired. They are enjoying their newly empty nest and have become grandparents for the first time.
It’s usually about this time in the year that I begin to think about my plan for reading the Bible in the new year. I look through the available resources, consider the many options, rule out some, put an asterisk next to others. I can’t be haphazard in my reading; I need a plan. If my desire is to be in God’s Word regularly (it is), then I have to have a plan.
I firmly believe the truth of 2 Timothy 3:16. I believe that the Bible we hold in our hands today is the Word of God that was breathed out by God. I believe that every word—all 66 books, written over the course of 1,600 years, by more than 40 different men from all walks of life—was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God inspired all of those words that make up the Bible. That is why they are so important. We spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours taking in words that come from man, yet we are so reluctant to spend time with the words that have come directly from God.
I also firmly believe what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 about the usefulness of God’s Word in our lives. All Scripture—not just parts or pieces of it—are profitable, Paul says. They are useful, helpful, and valuable. They are valuable for teaching, for telling us what is right. But they also reproof us, telling us what is wrong. All Scripture is helpful in correcting us by telling us changes we need to make to get right. Then, it tells us how to stay right by training us in righteousness. No matter what we face in life, there is a Scripture that teaches us and leads us and guides us. No matter our struggles or our joys, Scripture is there to shore us up, to carry us along.
While there is nothing wrong with reading words written by man, we must make sure that we are prioritizing the words written by God. The psalmist in Psalm 119 declares repeatedly how much he delights in God’s Word. The Scripture is sweeter than honey to him. It is more valuable than silver and gold. He desires to know it. He desires to live by the words God has breathed out.
May each one of us consider how important God’s Word is in our lives. May we consider the value of them for us. May we look and see if we do indeed allow God’s Word to teach, reprove, correct, and train us. And then may we make a plan for how we will read the Scripture. A plan for how we will make it a part of our every day.
