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Announcing our 10th Annual Bible Reading Challenge

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We believe one of the best ways to learn to study the Bible is to read it. A lot of it. Over and over again. That way, when the foundations are destroyed, the righteous will know what to do. When the wicked bend the bow, the children of God hide in the one who is their refuge. When surrounded by those who have lost their minds, the people of God have sure footing and a stabilizing security.

If you’re not sure what I mean by all these foundations/bow/sure footing metaphors, then maybe this is your year to read the entire Bible in 90 days. Objective truth and emotional stability are yours for the taking. Not by toughening yourself up (Prov 18:11, 26:12), but by perceiving who really sits on throne (Psalm 11:1-7, Matt 6:19-21). You’ll only see, though, if you’ve got the eyes for it.

But I digress and perhaps ought to get to the point.

The Challenge

I’m writing to announce our 10th annual Bible reading challenge. The challenge is to read the entire Bible within 90 days. If you wish, you may begin today. Regardless of when you begin, your 90-day period must end no later than March 31, 2025. Once you complete your reading, you may submit an entry form (see below) to enter a prize drawing.

And why—you ask—would you embark on such a strange venture? (“Has the day finally come,” they inquire, “when the Lord has struck with madness the riders of this horse we call the blogosphere?” Zech 12:4) I can think of at least three reasons.

  1. Your grasp of the Bible’s big picture will surge like a second wind for Ahimaaz (2 Samuel 18:19-28).
  2. Your reward in heaven will be great.
  3. We’ve got a sweet set of prizes to urge you on in the present age.

Because this is our 10th annual reading challenge, we’re blowing things up this year. There are not one but two grand prizes. And for every 10 people who complete this year’s challenge, there will be an additional prize package. On top of all that, we will grant extra entries into the drawing for anyone who recruits first-timers to complete the challenge with them.

Grand Prizes

The first grand prize is a 12-month pro-level subscription to Logos Bible Software. Logos has been the most requested grand prize for this year’s challenge, and due to the generosity of Faithlife (makers of Logos), your faith has become sight. Just this year, Logos has shifted to a subscription model. So one winner of our drawing will be gifted a 12-month subscription at the Pro level, which includes a library of over 500 books, along with tools for note-taking, counseling, preaching, marking up the text, making presentations, and access to five free mobile ed courses each quarter of the year. Find my review of the new subscription-based Logos here.

The second grand prize is a premium book rebinding provided by Pro Libris Rebinding. The winner of this prize is invited to take their favorite Bible, novel, or other book, send it to Pro Libris, and have it re-bound with a premium leather cover and binding. Or if you can’t decide which book of your own to get rebound, we will provide you with a free copy of a one-volume reader’s Bible of your choice, and Pro Libris will give it the premium treatment. You can view a sample of Pro Libris’s work at their Facebook and Instagram pages.

We want you to read and re-read God’s word for years to come, so we’re offering these prizes to catalyze a habit of such delightful romps.

Additional Prizes

But wait, there’s more! In addition to the two grand prizes, we will offer one additional prize for every 10 people who complete this year’s Bible reading challenge. That means that if only 10 people complete the challenge, two of them will win the grand prizes, and one will get an additional prize. If 100 people complete the challenge, two will win grand prizes, and ten will secure an additional prize.

So your odds of winning a prize this year could be greater than 10%. Can you find any other giveaway on the Internet with such great odds of winning? And though the physical discipline and training of reading the Bible in 90 days is of some value, the character and godliness which it instills in you holds promise not only for the present life but also for the life to come.

Everyone selected to win an additional prize will get to choose one of the following options:

  1. A one-volume reader’s Bible of your choice.
  2. A copy of both Knowable Word and Sowable Word.

Please note: Physical prizes are limited to people with addresses in the United States. Winners in other parts of the world will receive a $50 Amazon gift card via email.

Referral Bonus

One last new spin on this year’s challenge: the referral bonus.

On the entry form for this year’s challenge, there will be a place for you to mark whether this is your first time completing the challenge. And if it is your first time, there will be a place for you to provide the name of the person who recruited you to try the challenge.

Both recruits and recruiters will benefit:

  • First-timers will gain one extra entry in the drawing for naming the person who recruited them to this year’s challenge, if that recruiter also completes this year’s challenge.
  • Anyone who completes the challenge and is mentioned by one or more first-timers who also complete the challenge will gain three extra entries in the drawing for each person they recruited to complete the challenge.

Note that both the recruit and the recruiter must complete the challenge. All recruits must be first-timers; recruiters can be either returnees or first-timers themselves.

And as usual, fake, incomplete, or spam entries will be deleted. For example, anyone who fills out the form today or tomorrow clearly hasn’t read the entire Bible within the time window, so their entries won’t count. Also, entries submitted before Bible reading has been completed will be thrown out; this drawing is only for those who read the Bible in 90 days and not for those who intend to read the Bible in 90 days.

So it will do you no good to recruit millions of people to complete the entry form without completing the actual reading challenge. God sees and knows what you are up to, and your entries will be chucked to the place where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

Help is Available

If you’d like a checklist to help you stay on pace, here are three. You may make a copy and update the dates, if you plan to start on a date other than January 1.

  1. Canonical Order
  2. Chronological Order
  3. Hebrew OT & NIV Sola Scriptura NT Order

Or here is an iOS app that can help you track your plan. You may also want to consider making a reading plan in the Dwell listening app if you prefer audio. And perhaps you’ll want to bookmark this post so you can find the entry form once you complete the reading.

You may now begin any time, and may this be the ride of your life.

Official Rules

Here are the rules:

  1. You must read (not scan or skim) all 66 books of the Protestant Bible. You may choose the translation and reading plan (canonical, chronological, etc.). You don’t have to stop and meditate on every detail, but the Lord sees and knows when you are being honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable. You may also use any combination of audio and visual reading, as long as you’ve read or listened to the entire Bible within the allotted time period.
  2. You must read the entire Bible within a 90-day period.
  3. The last day of that 90-day period must be between November 10, 2024 and March 31, 2025. If you’d like to understand why we recommend such fast-paced reading, see our Bible reading plan for readers.
  4. To enter the drawing, you must fill out the survey below, letting us know the dates you read and what you thought of the speed-reading process. Your thoughts do not have to be glowing, but they should be honest; you’ll still be entered into the drawing if you didn’t enjoy your speed-read.
  5. Any submissions to the form below that don’t meet the requirements or appear to be fabricated will be deleted. For example: multiple entries with different data, date of completion not between November 8, 2024 and March 31, 2025, “What I thought about the experience” has nothing to do with Bible reading, or date of completion is later than the date of entry submission (please don’t try to enter the drawing if you plan to read the Bible; only enter once you have completed reading it).
  6. In the first week of April 2025, we will randomly select 2 grand-prize winners from those who have submitted the form. Each will be assigned one of the grand prizes, but those two winners may swap prizes if they both agree to it.
  7. Then we will randomly select, for an additional prize package, one winner for every 10 legitimate submissions to the drawing (e.g. 50 total submissions means 5 additional prize packages).
  8. We will email all winners (both grand-prize and additional-prize) to get their shipping addresses. If a winner does not respond to our request for a shipping address within 1 week, a new winner will be selected in their place.
  9. The first grand-prize winner will receive a 12-month Pro-level subscription to Logos Bible Software.
  10. The second grand-prize winner (if in US) will receive a premium book rebinding for a Bible or book of their choice (from their personal library), or for a new one-volume reader’s Bible of their choice.
  11. Additional-prize winners (if in US) will select either a copy of both Knowable Word and Sowable Word or a one-volume reader’s Bible of their choice. (While these are not your only options, we have reviewed the following: ESV, CSB, NIV.)
  12. Any winner who does not qualify for a physical prize will receive a US $50 Amazon gift card via email.
  13. Unfortunately, though they are among the most courageous and competent people on the planet, staff members of DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the drawing.

Context Matters: Romans 8

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Romans 8 is one of the most beloved chapters of the New Testament, with many staggering promises and assurances for the people of God. But could it be that some of them tend to take on meanings Paul didn’t intend, when we cite them out of context?

Joshua Greever tackles 3 such verses from the chapter, employing the context of Paul’s argument to explain some familiar verses and phrases:

  • What does it mean to be “led by the Spirit” in Rom 8:14?
  • What is the “good” that “all things work together for” in Rom 8:28?
  • In what way are those loved by God “more than conquerors” (Rom 8:37), and in what way can no-one be “against us” (Rom 8:31)?

Greever’s work on these texts is worth considering and modeling how to answer such interpretive questions from a close examination of the train of thought.

Check it out!

Listen to Instruction

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Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
And forsake not your mother’s teaching (Prov 1:8, ESV).

Having set our hope in the right person, we are now called to do the right thing in response. In verse 8, we have the first instance of one of the most repeated commands in Proverbs 1-9: the command to hear or listen. Solomon made every effort to give us a written record of his instruction, and he calls us to hear it over and over again. Will we do it? Will we listen? Will the instruction sink down deep and become a part of us? Will it make any difference in how we live our lives?

This question is important enough for him to repeat the command incessantly. Hear my instruction (Pr 1:8a). Don’t forsake your mother’s teaching (Pr 1:8b). Make your ear attentive to wisdom (Pr 2:2a). Incline your heart to understanding (Pr 2:2b). Be attentive, that you may gain insight (Pr 4:1). Hear and accept my words (Pr 4:10). Be attentive to my wisdom (Pr 5:1). And so on.

deer behind grass
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

Notice, too, that the word “instruction” in 1:8 connects back to Proverbs 1:2, where the first purpose of Solomon’s proverbs was to help us know wisdom and instruction. The “instruction” that he refers to is not his own personal advice, but rather the instruction of God, revealed through his Word, of which Solomon is now a representative. Solomon is not asking his audience to hear and obey every personal whim of his simply because he’s the older, more experienced one among them. He is pointing them to a greater set of instructions: those that came right from the Lord and can be applied to every detail of our lives. This conclusion flows from Prov 1:7 where fools despise the Lord’s instruction, but those who are wise fear the Lord (and thus hear his instruction).

How does this apply to us? If God has put us in positions of spiritual authority over others (as parents, elders, pastors, teachers, etc.), then we should be simultaneously confident and humble in our leadership. We can be utterly confident as representatives of the God of the universe (Josh 1:5, 2 Cor 5:20). Yet we’re also humble, knowing that our instruction does not always match God’s teaching perfectly; there’s room for us to grow, even as leaders. In other words, we must never ask for unqualified obedience on the merit of nothing more than the leadership position God gave to us. For example, “You better obey me, because I’m your father!” We must always aim to be representatives of a greater authority (the Lord himself). And, only in so far as our advice is in line with God’s revealed wisdom, ought we to expect those under us to hear and obey.

A good friend of mine modeled well such confident and humble leadership when he asked his six-year old son for suggestions on how he could be a better father. The boy’s first response was, “You’re a great Dad; I don’t think you could be better.” But later in the day, after some difficult interactions between the father and another sibling, the boy came back and said, “Dad, one way you could be a better Dad is to not get angry when we make mistakes or disobey.” My point here is not that parents should do whatever their children want them to do, but that, in a context of confident and humble authority delegated by God, a leader need not be insecure about wise feedback, even from those he leads.

Jesus himself told us that Solomon’s wise advice was not the ultimate instruction for us to heed. Solomon was a picture of the Savior to come, the man who was God and who spoke only God’s own words. In answer to those who wanted Jesus to prove himself to them, he said, “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt 12:42). Jesus, as God’s ultimate representative (Heb 1:1-4),repeatedly reminded people, “Truly, truly, I say to you….” As God in flesh, Jesus had no need to speak tentatively. In fact, one title for Jesus is the Word (John 1:1; Rev 19:13). Our objective in studying Proverbs is not just to listen to Solomon but, far more importantly, to make sure we are listening to Jesus.

Our default is to listen to anything but the Lord Jesus. Our own hearts whisper sweet promises of joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction in anything other than the righteousness of Jesus. The world gives apparent credibility to these promises, offering us more stuff, more pleasure, and whatever else will promise happiness. The devil prowls about seeking to destroy us, exploiting opportunities to showcase these lies and to hide from us the reality of their vicious consequences.

Thus Solomon comes back to it again and again: “Hear…listen…pay attention.” The second step on the path of wisdom is really the same as the first. We just have to keep taking it over and over again.

This post was first published in 2012.

Context Matters: The Least of These

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Consider one of the most chilling statements Jesus ever made:

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt 25:45-46)

It sounds as though the way a person treats “the least of these” is—if not the cause—at least the evidence of a person’s eternal fate. But do we understand who those people are whom Jesus wishes us to feed, clothe, welcome, and visit? It prevails on us to get this right.

Kevin DeYoung recently republished a helpful piece where he examines the phrase “least of these” from the context. He looks at Jesus’ usage not only in Matt 25:45 but also Matt 25:40, along with the logical flow of Jesus’ discourse and the literary connections back to Matthew 10.

I won’t quote his conclusion here, to entice you to go and read how he arrives at it.

Check it out!

The Fear of the Lord

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The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction (Prov 1:7).

This verse describes the first step on the path of wisdom. We must begin by fearing the Lord. So far, so good.

person wearing white and black mid rise sneakers at borobudur indonesia
Photo by Porapak Apichodilok on Pexels.com

Defining the Fear of the Lord from the Text

But what does it mean to fear the Lord? Does it mean to reverence the Lord? Or does it mean to obey him? Or does it mean to be afraid of him? How should we understand the term “fear” in this verse?

The poetry here gives us a lot of help. Do you remember our brief discussion of parallelism (more here)? In this verse, we have an example of two lines that say opposite things. So, in order to help us interpret the first line, let’s look at the second line: “fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The beginning of knowledge in the first line appears to be parallel to wisdom and instruction in the second line. That much quickly makes sense.

That leaves us with fools despise contrasted with the fear of the LORD, so fearing the Lord must mean that I don’t despise wisdom or instruction!  How does that work?

Let’s consider this further. Why would a fool despise wisdom and instruction? Because he thinks he doesn’t need it. Why doesn’t he need it? Because he thinks he’s already smart enough. He doesn’t need anyone (especially the Lord) telling him what to do. He’s doing just fine on his own. As the fellow once sang, “I did it my way!”

The wise person, on the other hand, knows he isn’t wise enough yet. There’s always more room for growth, so he loves wisdom and instruction. He wants feedback. He welcomes constructive criticism. He delights in correction. Therefore he has the humility and faith to look for a true source of wisdom (which will not be himself). Ultimately, he knows that the only real source of this much-needed wisdom is God, who stores up wisdom and doles it out to the upright who walk in integrity (see Prov 2:6-7). Therefore, fearing the Lord means resting in God and trusting that he alone is wise.

The Fear of the Lord and the Gospel

We have here an example of the Good News being preached long before Jesus actually came on the scene. Solomon communicates that the most important thing to know about becoming wise, indeed the first step on the path of wisdom, is to acknowledge that you are not wise. Only the most courageous people can do such a thing. They must have nothing to prove, nothing to defend, and nothing to justify. They don’t make excuses or blame others for their own faults. They’re not touchy when conflicts arise or when relationships become awkward. These people find their security not in their own righteousness, but in the righteousness of another who died so they could have life.

Some wiseacre once quipped that Christianity is just a crutch for weak people. Others accurately responded that Christianity is actually more like a stretcher for dead people. Christians know they need all the help they can get. We’re dead meat if Jesus doesn’t rescue us. This teaching is not unique to Solomon, but is inscribed on every page of the New Testament as well. For one example, see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

If we are believers in Jesus and destined for eternal life and glory, it is not because we had something to offer God. Rather, God called and chose us because he couldn’t find any bigger fools than us! He gets more glory for having drafted us into his service, and we get wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This is Good News.

When we hope in Jesus’ goodness, and not our own, we have taken the first step on the path of wisdom. Without this step, it is impossible to be wise. Therefore, if wisdom is a continual striving to know and do what the Bible says, the first step is to recognize that we aren’t doing it! In fact, we simply can’t do it. We need Jesus to do it for us.

This post was first published in 2012.

When Gospel Accounts Include Different Details

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J. Warner Wallace, a cold-case homicide detective, writes about why we should expect witnesses to disagree.

There are many factors that contribute to one’s perception of an event. Physical location, past experience, familiarity with a feature of the crime scene; a witness’ physical, emotional and psychological distinctives play a role in what they see and how they communicate this testimony after the fact. No two people are alike, so no two people experience an event in precisely the same way. If you’ve got three witnesses in a murder case, expect three slightly different versions of the event. Don’t panic, that’s normal. In fact, when three different witnesses tell me the exact same thing, I start to get suspicious.

He then traces out the implications of this fact (among others) on our reading of the Bible’s four gospels.

Check it out!

Beginning the Path of Wisdom

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Why is it so difficult for me to arrive home from work at the time I promised to my wife? I love her passionately, and I have no intention to deceive or discourage her. Yet I persistently fail to arrive on time.  Not only that, but every time I do it, I have a really good reason. “I was wrapped up in this significant project that had to get completed before I left the office.” Or, “I was having a very fruitful counseling meeting, and I couldn’t just cut it short.” Or, I can achieve ultimate vindication with: “You’re rarely on time when I’m waiting for you.”

man facing road
Photo by Sharefaith on Pexels.com

The one thing that I find most excruciating is simply to admit, “I should have set aside what I was doing and returned home on time for dinner. Will you please forgive me? Can you also please help me figure out how I could make a better choice next time?” It feels so right to make my excuses.  But when I make excuses, I am not fearing the Lord; therefore, I am not acting wisely.

One thing we can be certain of, from both Scripture and experience, is that we are sinners by nature, and thus prone to play the fool. We need to be rescued. We are selfish blame shifters who will stop at no length to justify our own choices and values. This habit is the essence of folly. If we hope to be wise, we must tread a different path. In fact, we cannot be wise until we do.

In the last few Proverbs posts, we pieced together a definition of wisdom: a continual striving to know and do what the Bible says. In the next few posts, we’ll consider three things that enable us to begin this journey of wisdom. First, hope in the right thing: the Good News of Jesus, not your own goodness (Prov 1:7). Second, do the right thing: listen to the Lord, not your own heart (Prov 1:8). Third, help others do the right thing: be an agent of godly influence, not another boring authority figure (Prov 1:9).

This post was first published in 2012.

Proverbs Purpose #5: To Master the Word of Wisdom

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To understand a proverb and a saying,
The words of the wise and their riddles (Prov 1:6, ESV).

In Proverbs 1:1-6, Solomon gives four purposes for his book. We’ve already discussed the first, second third and fourth. The fifth purpose comes in verse 6.

At first glance, it might appear that this statement simply repeats what came before in verse 2: “to understand words of insight.” We’ve already established that Solomon wants to train us to recognize wisdom when we see it.

But to understand how this fourth purpose advances the train of thought, consider what Solomon is saying when you put the entire sentence together again: “The Proverbs of Solomon [are]…to understand a proverb.” In other words, a purpose of Proverbs is to help us understand proverbs. As one of my seminary professors once said, “the more you understand Proverbs, the more proverbs you understand.”

close up shot of book of proverbs
Photo by Michelle Andrews on Pexels.com

Have you ever read through the whole book of Proverbs before? There are some weird things in there!

Weird Example #1: Whoever winks the eye causes trouble,
But a babbling fool will come to ruin (Prov 10:10).

Weird Example #2: The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
And good news refreshes the bones (Prov 15:30).

Weird Example #3: The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road!
There is a lion in the streets (Prov 26:13)!

Weird Example #4: The leech has two daughters;
‘Give’ and ‘Give,’ they cry (Prov 30:15a).

Often, to help us understand strange proverbs like these, other proverbs come to the rescue. Proverbs 6:12-15 helps with example #1 by explaining that winking has to do with causing disunity. Many proverbs help with example #2 by defining “the light of the eyes” as an inward vitality (Prov 29:13) that results from a righteous life (Prov 13:9), expressing itself on our faces (Prov 15:13). Proverbs 22:13 helps with example #3 by explaining that the “lion” is simply a fabricated excuse not to go to work. Proverbs 30:15b-16 helps with example #4 by illustrating for us the warning signs of the type of needy person who won’t be helped by our charity.

My point is this: one purpose of Proverbs is to help us to master other proverbs.

Or, the more we understand Proverbs, the more proverbs we will understand.  It doesn’t stop with Proverbs either; the more wisdom you glean from Proverbs, the more you will understand the rest of the Bible as well. And the better you truly understand the main points of the Scriptures, the more you will know Jesus, for they all speak of him (Luke 24:44-49, John 5:39-40, 1 Peter 1:10-12). The more you know Jesus, the wiser you become, for he is our wisdom (1 Cor 1:30). In other words, the fifth purpose of Proverbs is to help you master the word of wisdom (see also 2 Tim 2:15). We are tempted to define “wise” and “foolish” however we want, but the Bible must be our measuring rod on these categories. Let’s add this point to our definition of wisdom.

Wisdom is:

  1. Knowing the right thing to do in any particular situation.
  2. Recognizing those who promote the right thing to do.
  3. Doing it.
  4. Always improving at both knowing and doing.
  5. Deriving all of our knowing and doing from the Bible.

A simpler way to phrase this whole definition could be: Wisdom is a continual striving to know and do what the Bible says.

This post was first published in 2012.

Glorious Gospel Stories

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The Lord gave us not one but four accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. Steve Burchett wants to help you appreciate and understand them better. He explains that the stories of the gospels:

  1. Are God’s revelation to us.
  2. Proclaim truths that make believers increasingly holy.
  3. Are both gripping and Christ exalting — a powerful combination when evangelizing the lost.

Burchett goes on to offer practical suggestions for reading and understanding these stories rightly.

Check it out!