Bible Update: January 2018

     Ooh! How weird to type "2018." I seriously have some sort of complex with the novelty of the new year. Today I'm going to be talking about my Bible time. Obviously, with the new year, there are a bunch of resolutions about reading the Bible in a year and all that. So read on to learn more about my Bible resolutions!

     To begin with, I am going to (try) to read the whole Bible this year. I've done it once before (and have probably gotten close to doing it again - just not in one year). I tried to do it again last year, but I really flagged off and got pretty discouraged.

     This year, to help me stay motivated, I'm enlisting the help of an accountability partner. Hopefully, that will help me stay on track better. Plus, the plan I'm doing is only a five-day plan, which will help me stay on top of it better and get less discouraged if I do fall a bit behind.

     Other than that, I've continued to Bible time for school. I stopped doing the Most Important Thing You've Ever Studied series (see my October Bible Update here.) and started using Kay Arthur's How to Study the Bible book. I really like it so far!

     I chose to use her method to study the book of Galatians, and it is seriously helped me so much to understand that book. So far I've marked up the whole book and developed a book theme, chapter themes, a verse that sums the book up, and keywords. 

    Now I'm working through each of the chapters marking words like "but," "for," and "therefore" and tracking the progression of thought. Paul is arguing against circumcision (but more generally following the Law in an effort to be justified) and his thought process is super interesting and also really well laid out. So far he's made a pretty water-tight argument.

     I think the best part of this method is that I'm discovering all this stuff on my own, without study Bibles or commentaries, which not only is making the information stick really well, but it's also making the information more fresh to me and makes me way more interested.

    Other than that I'm just doing whatever. That's basically the meat of what I'm doing. I'm also reading (or trying to read - we've been so busy) a book with my mom that's Bible related, and reading other books as the fancy strikes. But nothing else major. :)

     So that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed reading that. Let me know what you're doing in the comments below! If you want to join me on the Bible plan, it's right here.

What are your 2018 Bible plans? Are you going to try and read the Bible this year? Let me know!! :)