Making Resolutions

Day 124: Psalm 101-104

Psalm 101 resonates with me because it is filled with promises that the writer makes to the Lord. Promises that he makes to himself. Resolutions, so to speak. The speaker tells the Lord (these are excerpts):

I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.
I will praise you with songs.
I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.
I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar.
I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
I will not endure conceit and pride.
I will search for faithful people to be my companions.

And in Psalm 103:
With my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

These psalmist writers make promises--commitments--to the Lord and to themselves. They promise the Lord how they will behave, how they will live, and what specificially they will do to live a life in accordance with God's will and His laws. They make written vows to themselves and to God. I think it's important for us, as Christians, to commit to live a life in accordance with God's will, too. Speaking these things--or writing them down--can help us remember how we are called to live. Right now we are in the season of New Year's Resolutions, and while I don't typically make them (they're too hard to maintain for long), I do think it's important to write down goals and guidelines for how we want to live our life. When we do, we are essentially making a vow to ourselves and to God. They can kind of function as a "rule of life" on our behavior, attitudes, and mindset. We even know when we break them because we know what they are. I encourage you to set some goals for yourself on how you want to live your life. I know that I'm going to do so.

Explaining the Reading Goal

When I was a child, I read the Bible almost every day. My dad required my siblings and I to read at least one passage of scripture every day. He even bought us new new Bibles each year so that we could start afresh and see the Word with new eyes. My dad even asked us to sign the pages we had read for the day as evidence of our reading. This practice was one that was very important to my father, probably because of his grandmother's knowledge and understanding of scripture. From early on, I knew that scripture reading was an important practice.

Over time, however, I have gradually stopped this practice of reading the Bible. I still call myself a Christian. I go to church. I minister to others, and I try to live my life as a follower of Christ. I'm even a preacher's wife (Wow! Should I be admitting this?!!). But I have to admit that I have not been a faithful reader of the Bible. Part of my reluctance is because I'm married to a preaching minister who has a BA in Bible, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry. That's a lot of degrees in Bible. How can I compare with someone who knows so much about it? It's really easy for me to use that as an excuse for not exploring the Bible from my own perspective. But I do think that I might read parts differently. Even though he has all this theological training, surely God could speak to me through the text as well.

The other part of my sporadic Bible reading has to do with the busy nature of my life. I am a full-time professor at a prestigious university where I have to publish or perish. Work takes up so much of my time, and when I'm not working, I'm thinking about work and all that I should be doing to prepare for researching or teaching. I also have two small children (under 5). I cook dinner almost every night. I want a little relaxation time. And my husband is a minister, so we spend a lot of time with people. All this "already-filled" time takes away from reading the Bible (and other spiritual practices, such as prayer, fasting, and quiet time), and you might say that I have let my Bible reading slide. And what's strange is that I do see reading and meditating on scripture as important, especially since the Bible is God's word to us and a unique way that He speaks to us.

I was thinking the other day that if I read the Bible now, I bet I would have a different understanding of God, the church, people, and everything else that I'm dealing with in life. And that made me want to read it again. And then I got this idea to write about my journey. Partly because it would discipline me to do it, but also because I really want to read the Bible anew through my perspective today.

So, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to read through the Bible in 365 days and write about what I'm reading and learning. I hope that when these 365 days come to an end that who I am right now--on September 7, 2009--will be a person who has learned more about God and people one year from now. I'll be starting tomorrow, and I hope you will join with me on my journey.

Signed,
Kara