Wednesday, 05 January 2011
I want to give some background on the reading plan. There are many good reading plans out there. In fact, there more than ever before in the history of the church. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. The particular plan that we have chosen is by a Scottish pastor named Robert Murray M'Cheyne. M'Cheyne was among a group of pastors in Scotland who, under the tutelage of Thomas Chalmers, became instrumental in the reviving of the Scottish church. This refreshing of God came by the simple means of grace - God's Word preached, read, studied, and the sacraments (the visible Word).
M'Cheyne was the pastor in Dundee, Scotland. He died at the extremely young age of 29.
He developed this reading plan to help his flock. It was his desire (and ours), that many in the congregation be reading the same portion of Scripture together. And then, in our daily conversations with each other, we would talk about what we are feeding on.
So, the plan is designed for a year. The intention is that the flock would read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice. It was also his intention that the fathers would take two of the readings and lead family worship with them (the other two readings would be for "secret" devotion with God).
Let me make a suggestion: if you find two chapters burdensome, then cut it down to two (or one). The benefit of this plan is that it has us in the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time. It is important that we see "Christ in the Old Testament concealed, and in the New Testament, revealed" (Augustine). For instance, I have suggested to my children that they read the first two readings each day (I think its too much for them to read all four). This keeps them in the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time.
In the future, I plan on posting some comments on the passages and how the relate to each other. In the meantime, remember that the plot-line of the bible is creation-fall-redemption. Everything is anticipating Christ coming, death, and resurrection. Having this in the back of your mind will help you tie your readings together.
