In the beginning...

Day: 1

OT Reading: Genesis 1-2

NT Reading: Matthew 1

So it begins. I've committed myself to read the entire Bible over the course of the next year. And while I doubt I'll have something witty or profound to say after each reading, I do hope it happens on occasion. But more than anything I hope to be real with who I am, what I'm experiencing and how I'm being impacted by this journey through God's Word.

So to start things out I'll just be up front. I've never been very good about reading the Bible. Sure I study it for my job...I do it when I need to study or come up with an answer, but honestly I've never had a consistent habit of spending time in God's word for personal growth. I know that as a Christian (and especially as a preacher), I should feel like the Psalmist when he says, "I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight." (Psalm 119:174, NIV) But the truth is that too often I've just been content to let that part of my spiritual life slide by.

Maybe you find that appalling...maybe you find it encouraging. But that's part of why I'm doing this. That is part of the reason I'm putting this out for everyone to see...even those who listen to me preach on Sundays and may quietly believe I not only have a Bible under my pillow at night, but a waterproof translation so I can make use of those valuable "shower quiet times" as well. Through this I hope that everyone knows that I, like everyone else, am on my own spiritual journey as I try to become more like Jesus...and I'm not there yet.

So about today's passage. Today's reading included a genealogy, a list of a bunch of people all related to each other. Now, to be honest, most of the time I skim through such lists simply because I don't know who many of these people were (and sometimes really have to work to even pronounce their names). But today was different.

If you were at CCJ yesterday, you heard how God's plan to redeem all people back to himself actually began in Genesis 12 with Abram (i.e. Abraham) and continues on today. (If you weren't at CCJ and you'd like to listen to the message, you can go here and find it under the "Recent Sermons" heading with 05.23.2010 as the date.) And as I came to this passage in Matthew I was struck how it began with Abraham, and ended with Jesus. There, right before me was laid out the entire line of how God blessed the whole world through Abraham just like He promised back in Genesis 12:1-3. Maybe it was because I just preached it, but today that stood out to me as pretty cool to be able to see for myself.

So what about you? What most stood out to you from your first day of reading?