Monday, January 8, 2007

Resource for Bible Reading

This year my wife and I committed to read through the entire Bible together. We talked about this late in 2006 and I began looking for something that would help keep us going. In my internet wanderings, I stumbled across something our good friends at Crossway Books produced. It's called the ESV Daily Reading Bible. Unlike other daily reading Bibles, the text is not shuffled around. It's a regular Bible, but with a couple added features to help you maintain a consistent reading time. First, it has a reading program designed to take you through the Old Testmant once and the New Testmant and Psalms twice (through three daily readings). However, the design of the Bible allows for less ambitious reading plans. Three ribbon markers help keep track of the various readings. And marginal indicators tell you what the day's readings should be. My wife even says she likes the color of the cover!

Jesus said "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32). Few things could be more important than a consistent reading of God's word. Because of its perfection, trustworthiness, righteousness, pureness, eternal endurance, because of its ability to revive the soul, make wise the simple, rejoice the heart, and warn of sin, we should treasure God's word more than any perishable wealth (Ps 19:7-11).

This ESV daily reading Bible can help you stay close to God by keeping close to his Word.

4 comments:

JohnnyB said...

hey james - those guys are some of the 'founders' of sbts (including boyce); good eye!

JohnnyB said...

p.s. - i thought the pic captured the spirit of the title 'dead theologians society.' plus those guys looked like they could kick butt! ;-)

Thomas said...

When you look for a reading guide with some solid commentary - big picture of what the Bible is saying rather than someones emotion of the day - I heartily recommend D. A. Carson's pair of books:

For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Treasures of God's Word

and

For the Love of God, Volume 2: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word

But then Pastor John, if you quote Robert M'Cheyne, perhaps you already have a copy!

JohnnyB said...

in fact, i think it was through carson that i first heard of m'cheyne. carson is great with just about everything he writes! those devotionals are no different. i think he has like four commentaries coming at some point - hebrews, galatians, john's letters, and revelation. can't wait to get my hands on those (esp. hebrews!)
john