We spent New Year’s Eve at a neighborhood party of families like our own. All the parents hovered over a table of hors d’oeuvres, eating pot stickers and potato skins, tiny chimichangas and hot wings, all the while remaining unswerving in our commitment to make 2014 the year we eat only “jicama and tofu.” Our kids jumped in a rented bounce house in the dark, periodically reminding the rest of us that it may not have been the safest unsupervised decision (one kid got a visit from the tooth fairy on New Year’s Eve as a result of a collision).

But, it IS the new year. Now, the New Year’s resolution mania is gaining momentum. Even in the face of incredibly dismal success rates (one study reported that only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolution goals), people still make them. People want a chance to start over, to make things new, to improve. Over and over again, studies indicate that people with clear plans, achievable goals, and accountability see monumental increases in chances for success.

So, consider this very unsurprising resolution from the pastor: read the Bible. I know you nearly fainted from the shock of that idea — a pastor… the Bible. Reading the Bible won’t give you “sculpted” abs, it won’t help you come into money, and it won’t grow back any hair you lost in 2013. But, it will rightly orient your heart toward God. If the notion of reading the entire Bible is too daunting, start with reading a portion of it. If you’re following along in the Daily Message (available at the Global Bookstore), read the entire daily read or just one part of it. If you’ve never read the Bible, read a little. If you’ve read a little, read a little more. For the mobile tech savvy, download the free YouVersion Bible app and start this reading plan called “Discipleship Journal’s Book-at-a-Time Reading Plan” (it follows the same breakdown as the Mariners Daily Message Bible). You can do it. We can do it.

Yesterday, on Day 1 of the plan, we read this: “…You thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.” Psalm 1:2-3 [MSG]

Might that be our experience of living in God’s Word during 2014.

See you this Sunday,
-Jeff