January finds us all ready for starting over, doing life better, and, of course, losing weight. Now that we are reaching the end of January many of our plans have met the pavement of reality and most of us have begun to slack off on the plans we have made. It is easy to get disappointed with the lack of progress in the short, cold, and snowy days. The enemy of our souls would like to keep us discouraged and have us tuck our tail between our legs and say, “I’ve tried and tried, but I have never succeeded in reading the Bible in a year.” The truth is, it is harder for some of us to climb this mountain than others, but thankfully I don’t remember a Bible verse that says you have to read the Bible in a certain length of time to be a Christian. I do know of verses that tell us that the word is a lamp unto our feet, a light for our path. (Ps. 119:105) That tells me that, if we want to know where we are heading, and, if we want to be in God’s will, we will need to know what He says in His word. Perseverance is important to running the race for God. Sometimes we just want to give up as the race seems too hard. Discouragement is one of the enemy’s best weapons. That’s why I think it is important to have an accountability partner or a group of friends studying the Bible together. It helps encourage us to get through those rough times when the task seems overwhelming.

When thinking about the challenge of Bible reading and study I started thinking about Jesus and food. There are not a lot of verses in the gospels that talk about Jesus snacking. I remember once his disciples were in the grain field, and once when he went for figs and there were none on the tree, but what I do remember is that Jesus spent a lot of time eating a full meal with those he wanted to talk with. Could that be saying that if we want Continue reading →