Earlier this year, our son Micah traveled to Colorado to visit a friend. One of his goals on the trip was to climb a fourteener (if you are a newbie like me, that is a mountain with a peak that reaches 14K feet in elevation).
On the day of the climb, he and his friend set out in the morning, and they began the trek.
The higher they got on the mountain, the more resistance they encountered. The winds picked up. The terrain got more difficult. And the snow started to fly. His videos of that day looked like a blizzard had rolled in.
While they made it a long way up the mountain to an elevation of 13,800 feet, they turned back just short of reaching the summit. Mountain climbing is no joke!
This event reminded me of setting the goal at the beginning of a new year to read through the Bible in a year. It can be an incredible experience, but it is not without its challenges.
When you decide to read through the Bible in a year, it is like you have this huge mountain right in front of you. You take it one day at a time, one step at a time, and you push through the hard passages (I’m looking at you, Ezekiel).
There are so many benefits to reading through the Bible in a year, not the least of which is reaching the summit and getting the beautiful view. You get to make connections in Scripture that you never saw before, and you have the entire story of the Bible laid out in front of you.
There is also the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing the task. You get to say you did it! You made it through, and you are better for it.
But for every person who summits that mountain, there are 10 more who turn back. Some turn back early on when the terrain gets rocky in Leviticus. Others persevere until they get to the slippery sections of the minor prophets. And others simply get distracted with other things and end up halfway up the mountain, smelling the roses.
And how many times during the trek to the summit are they watching their feet and missing the beauty around them? Those times when they see the words but don’t remember what they read and still check that reading off the list?
So while mountain climbing is great and definitely has its benefits, it isn’t the only way to approach the mountain.
The other night I was sitting in bed drinking my hot tea and watching the newest episode of The Curse of Oak Island. If you’re familiar with the show, you know that the Lagina brothers have spent the last 12 seasons (TWELVE!!) looking for a treasure rumored to be buried somewhere on Oak Island in Nova Scotia, Canada.
In every episode, they find some trinket or bauble that keeps you coming back to the show again and again. Yet they never seem to find the mother lode (because then the show would end, but I digress).
The truth is this isn’t the only treasure hunting show I watch. I’m a sucker for them. They always find just enough to keep me interested, thinking they must be on the right path, giving me enough clues to know it will happen someday.
And this is the way I like to approach my Bible study—as a treasure hunter! Let me explain.
I like to spend each month of the year in a different book of the Bible. I like to read the book and reread the book again and again in different translations throughout the month. Even if that is all I do, I walk away with a much deeper understanding of the book.
But I don’t stop there. I take the time during the month to dig into passages that pique my interest. I do word studies for hard words. I look at the historical and literary contexts of the book so I can see the book through the eyes of the original audience. I consult commentaries and blog posts, and I listen to podcasts and sermons.
At the end of the month, when I turn the page on that book of the Bible, it feels like I have a new friend!
So which one are you, First name / friend? Are you a mountain climber or a treasure hunter?
If you want to go into 2025 and climb that mountain, I recommend doing a chronological reading plan. Did you know the Bible isn’t “in order”? Using a chronological plan will keep you jumping around as you walk through history in the Scriptures, but it will also help you keep events and people organized in your brain.
Here is a chronological reading plan from Blue Letter Bible, one of my favorite Bible study resources. It is a PDF, so you can print it out, keep it in your Bible, and check off passages as you go.
