Man does not live by bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God!

For years I have done the Robert Murray M'Cheyne Bible reading plan.  It is an incredible plan that gets you deep into the Word of God.  If you stick to the schedule you will have read the Old Testament once and the Psalms and the New Testament twice in one year.  It is a lot of reading, but there isn't a better way to really soak up the Bible.  However, this year I decided to try a new plan, to switch things up.  There were several plans that I looked at but one caught my eye more than the others.  It is called the "Bible Eater" plan.  Let me say I couldn't be more excited for this plan.  I haven't been this fired up for my daily reading in a while.  Maybe it is the change of pace or the freshness of a new schedule, but whatever it is I am pumped.  We must remember that if we do a reading plan, it can't become a burden.  It isn't something that we do so we can just check it off our list.  The whole purpose to read through God's word is to know Him better and see His character and so we know how to live lives that bring glory to Him.  The description of this plan starts by saying "God hasn't told us how often or how much we are to read of His word but he has told we need the Scriptures in order to live."  That is so true and relevant.  We live in a time where the authority and sufficiency of the Bible is disregarded. People want to hear from God and have God speak to them.  People are reading silly little devotionals that supposedly record Jesus's words to them. But God has spoken in His word and if we want to hear the voice of God, we need to open up our Bibles. God speaks through His word.  I am not against devotionals.  I read Spurgeon's Mornings and Evenings and there are many other very good devotionals, but for some reason people are looking for this new or fresh revelation from God as if the one He has given is not sufficient and it breaks my heart.  God's words are life to us.  We are told that man does not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  If we want to be physically healthy we need to diet and exercise.  The same is true spiritually.  We need a good diet of God's word.  Paul told Timothy that, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16).  In other words the Bible is sufficient for all that we will face in life.  We need to be feasting on the meal that God has provided for us.  One thing about this new plan that I am using is that it highlights redemptive chapters.  Of course every chapter in the Bible is important because every word is breathed out from God. But some chapters are more crucial in helping us understand the big picture and see the overall picture of God's salvation plan.  So there is special emphasis on certain chapters that highlight the promises of Christ and His coming and redemption etc.  Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him and sometimes we have the tendency of reading without focusing on how the section we are reading is pointing to Christ.  This plan helps in some of those areas.  If you aren't reading the word daily, let me encourage you to pick it up and spend some time with Jesus.  Meditate on God's word and who Christ is.  Read it with fresh eyes, looking to see how the passage you are reading fits with the overall picture of the Bible.  Maybe a plan will help you or maybe it won't but one thing is for sure, "man does not live by bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God", so open up that treasure that the Lord has been left to His people!