Read through the Bible in 2024

 Although I do not do this every year, part of my devotional reading is often reading through the entire Bible in a year. This is a great discipline, especially if you've never done it before. I have never once read through the entire Bible without learning something new.

When I first recommend this discipline to others I'm often told that they see no way to read through the Bible in a year. They are surprised when I tell them it can be done simply by reading just three chapters a day. Three chapters a day often doesn't take more than 15-20 minutes to read, but think of the difference it could make in your life.

I will admit that there are some rough chapters to read. The books of Numbers and Leviticus are not exciting books to read, but even those books can teach us more about God. Some of the historical books can also get a little boring, but even they contain nuggets of helpful information. You will be surprised at some of the insights God will reveal to you when you commit to reading the Bible in a year.

There's no single right way to do this. What I do when I commit to reading through the Bible that year is to buy a version of the Bible I haven't read before. This helps keep the reading fresh. It also opens up new understandings as I am reading a translation for the first time. I typically read only translations, not paraphrases although one year I chose to read The Message Bible for my devotions. As long as one knows it is a paraphrase and not a translation I see no problem reading it for devotional purposes. 

Regardless of the version you decide to read, make sure it is readable. Some print in Bibles is too small or too faint to be comfortable to read. If it's not comfortable to read you are less likely to read it. Spend a little more to buy a Bible you will enjoy reading. It will be a great investment.

I place my Bible in my study with my other devotional materials. When I get up in the morning I fix a pot of coffee and go to the study. There I can do my devotional reading with no distractions. Once I complete my devotions I'm ready to face the world.

Many times I've invited people to read through the Bible in a year, and many have responded that doing so was one of the best decisions they had ever made. Some did it as a family while most did it individually. Some people struggle with reading due to eyesight issues, and they have downloaded a version that someone read to them. This works well, too. The important thing is to spend time in God's Word to learn more about Him and His will for your life.

Self-discipline is the key to successful ministry

In his excellent book, Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success, Rory Vaden writes, "There is one thing that all successful people have in common: Successful people have all had to do things they didn't feel like doing in order to get where they are." Later in the book he quotes Albert Gray, "Successful people form the habit of doing things that failures don't like doing."

This is true in every endeavor in life. Like me, you have probably known many people who talked about earning a degree or learning a new skill, but talking about it is all they ever did. You may even be that person. Several people have told me they would like to enroll in a degree program and wanted to talk about my experiences in going to school while being in ministry. After our discussion very few pursued the degree they desired.

Numerous people have contacted me saying they wanted to write a book and asked how to do it. When I explain the work involved in writing a book and getting it published they seem to be less interested. So far, I've not seen a book published by any of those people.

How many people do you know who have talked about how they need to get out of debt, lose weight, quit smoking, or make some other positive change in their lives and yet never do anything about it? The one thing all these people have in common is that they are not willing to pay the price to do the thing they claim they want to accomplish. In an age of instant fixes, they lack the self-discipline they need to enjoy success.

Self-discipline is critical for those of us ministry, especially bivocational ministry. There are going to be times when we don't want to study. Maybe we had an especially tough week at work and we just don't feel like preparing a sermon. Maybe this week we can just find something online that would work. Do that a few weeks and it soon becomes a habit. If you think your congregation doesn't realize what you're doing you are mistaken.

A lack of self-discipline shows up when you take calls during your family meal time. Instead of enjoying a family dinner you feel you have to jump every time the phone rings and talk to a parishioner about critical issues such as whether or not the church rummage sale should be included in the church bulletin. Successful ministry includes loving your family well and actually being with them when you are with them.

If we are to enjoy successful ministries and lives we need to learn self-discipline. If we want to get out of debt, we need to live on less than we make, learn to budget, stop using debt to get things we want, and learn the discipline of saving and investing. If we want to lose weight we have to discipline ourselves to eat healthier and exercise more. If we want to stop smoking we need to learn to not smoke one day at a time. If we want to further our education we need to enroll in the program we are interested in, turn off our TVs, and discipline ourselves to do the work.

In order to enjoy a healthy, successful ministry we must learn how to balance the various things that demand our time. I often refer to five areas of life that must be addressed: Our relationship with God, our families, our church work, our other career, and our personal self-care. Vaden also addresses this in his book when he writes, "Balance shouldn't mean equal time spent on equal activities. Balance should mean appropriate time spent on critical priorities." This all requires that we practice self-discipline.

The pastor's life must be a disciplined life

At one point in my life I was serving as the bivocational pastor of a small church, working a full-time job in a factory 50 miles north of my home, and attending a Bible school 50 miles south of my home. In addition I was a husband and a father to two active children. It is safe to say that my life was interesting.

In one of the classes I took at the Bible school we were required to write down everything we did in half-hour increments for a week. It's a great exercise if you want to see how you spend your time. When the professor read my chart he remarked that he found it difficult to believe anyone's life was as structured as mine. I explained my situation to him and told him I had no choice but to live a very structured life.

Pastoral ministry is one that requires a certain amount of discipline and structure if one wishes to be effective and productive. Sundays come every seven days, and most pastors are expected to be prepared to share at least one message on that day. No matter what else may happen, your congregation expects a sermon from their pastor. That means time must be spent each week in sermon preparation.

I pastored one church for twenty years. Planning and preparing sermons was one of the things I enjoyed most about the ministry. Usually. I must be honest and admit that there were some weeks I didn't want to study and prepare a sermon. There were some weeks that I had so many demands on my time that it was hard to find the time to prepare. There were other weeks I just didn't want to. I wanted to do other things.

There is a trend among some younger pastors today to not visit the people in their churches. I think that is a mistake. It is in those visits that relationships are built, and in smaller churches those relationships are vital to effective ministry. I tried to visit our members and guests on a regular basis and almost always if they were in the hospital or facing some difficulty in their lives. However, I must admit that sometimes I didn't want to.

There were numerous times in my pastoral ministry when I did things I really didn't want to do, but I knew they were necessary if I wanted to serve my people well.  John Maxwell shares a quote in his book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential, "The successful person has the habit of doing the things that failures don't like to do. The successful person doesn't like doing them either, but his dislike is subordinated to the strength of his purpose."

Effective pastors will spend the time studying and preparing messages that challenge and encourage their congregations because that is what God has called them to do. They will take time to be with people in their churches and communities to develop the kind of relationships that give them the right to speak words of hope and comfort into their lives. It requires discipline on the part of the pastor to do these things when he or she would rather be doing something else.

Every pastor will have times when his or her motives or actions are misunderstood and people begin to question those motives or actions. It takes great discipline to know when to speak up and when to remain quiet. Sometimes, for reasons known only to us, we are not able to defend ourselves and must remain quiet in the midst of accusations. In such times we must be disciplined enough to share our thoughts with God alone.

Pastoral ministry is not an easy calling. We will often be required to do some things we would prefer not to do. We must be disciplined enough to do them anyway if we want to be true to our calling and to the people we serve.

Another church dies

As my wife and I drove back from a preaching engagement recently we noticed a small church sitting back off the main highway.  This was new territory for us so we had never seen this building before.  The windows were boarded up and it was obvious the church building had been closed for many years.  I told my wife how saddened I am when I see such sights because I can visualize in my mind the sights and sounds that had once filled that sanctuary.  Men, women, and young people had found Jesus Christ in that place at one time.  People experienced renewed hope from the messages and songs they heard there.  Now, the building is boarded up and slowly rotting away from the elements.

The next day a pastor called asking about a pastor position he heard was open.  He learned after being called to his present ministry that before calling him as pastor the church had discussed closing.  That conversation was now happening again.  Too few people and resources were the primary reasons.  As I pressed this pastor further I learned the story behind the problems.  It's a familiar story I hear all too often.

No matter what the congregation wants to do, a controller prevents it from happening.  New people are brought into the church, and this same person soon runs them off by his actions and hurtful words.  He seldom attends worship services but does show up at all business meetings to enforce his rule on the congregation.  No one is willing to confront this person, and on those rare occasions when such confrontation does occur the challenger finds himself all alone and leaves in frustration.   Good people leave the church because a congregation does not have the courage to discipline a controller who is creating extreme disharmony in the church.

I've written numerous posts about church controllers in this blog because I find them so often in my ministry.  This pastor had evidently never read any of those posts because he talked about how he has tried to reason with this person.  I explained that you cannot reason with unreasonable people.  He said that some people had tried to tactfully address the problem but had failed.  Of course, they failed.  You cannot be tactful with controllers.  The reason these people keep the power they have is because churches are full of nice people who want to tactfully reason with them.  Nice people don't want confrontation and controllers thrive on it, but such confrontation is the only thing that they understand.

The only way to deal with controllers is for the church leadership to state clearly what they are doing wrong, what behaviors are expected of them, and that decisive church discipline will occur if they violate those expectations.   And, if those expected behaviors are violated quick, decisive action must follow.  By the way, the pastor cannot be the person who confronts the controller, especially if that pastor is relatively new to the position.  The controller will win almost every time that happens.  He or she must know that the congregation as a whole is confronting him or her.

Unfortunately, most small churches will not take the actions listed above.  They are too concerned that a long-time member will leave.  Yes, they know his or her actions are hurting the church, but, after all, that person has been here a long time.  The congregation has learned to accept this person's "personality," and have adjusted to it.  Such churches are willing to keep the controllers while good people, including their own young people, leave the church in droves to get away from such dysfunction.  These churches probably deserve to die, but it's still sad to see because it doesn't have to happen.

Does your church have controller issues?  If so, what are you doing about it?  Which is preferable to you: to keep your controllers or to have a long-term effective ministry in your community?