Get to Know Jesus Christ this Xmas Season, Five to Ten Minutes a Day!
Just one chapter a day of the Gospel of Luke from now until Christmas Eve
Merry Christmas! Christmas season … it’s not quite Christmas yet. And while we’re waiting for the day itself to come, why not take about five to ten minutes each day until then to get to know Jesus Christ better, whether you are a Christian or not? He is the ‘reason for the season,’ after all … before the tradition of Christmas presents turned the whole month into a secular frenzy of materialistic consumerism that must be pleasing to Mammon on some level, surely.
And yes I know some of the caveats that might be thrown in here: We can’t prove Jesus was born on the 25th of December, The Bible only tells one version of the story, the full story of Jesus has never been told … yes, yes, I’m familiar with those things. All that’s fine with me. But culturally and socially, Christmas is on December 25th, so we can work with that, no problem.
The canonical Bible has four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of course. And the Gospel of Luke has twenty-four chapters.
If you start on December first and read one chapter of the Gospel of Luke per day, then on Christmas Eve you’ll have fully read one version of the story of Jesus.
You’ll be engaging with your spirituality, engaging with Christ, and even building a daily reading habit if you don’t have one, to flex your mental muscles. And although any time is a good time to get to know Christ better, why not make it now, during this season that is ostensibly devoted to Him?
Reading one chapter from the Gospel of Luke should take you somewhere between five to ten minutes a day. Five for faster readers. If you find that it’s taking you significantly longer than ten minutes a day, then perhaps you should change the version of The Bible that you’re reading.
I don’t like reading Olde English, it complicates the meaning and I don’t have time to go looking up lots of words. That’s why I prefer the Common English Bible (CEB). It transcreates The Bible into contemporary language, making it much easier (and faster) to read and understand.
If you’d like to read The Bible, whether it’s for the first time or the zillionth time, I can’t recommend enough that you choose a version that’s easy for you to read and understand. Choose the one that really speaks to you the clearest.
This is why I recommend The Bible App (aka YouVersion) by Life.Church. It’s free, it’s available on smartphones, and it lets you switch between tons of different versions (and languages) of The Bible. It also offers various kinds of reading plans that you can complete, if you’re seeking to build a Bible-reading habit or even just want to know what’s in this big book!
If you’re a Christian, and you’ve already read Luke before, there’s never anything wrong with reading it again, one chapter (five to ten minutes) a day! If you’re not a Christian, what could be wrong with becoming more familiar with (one version of) Jesus lore? What’s wrong with knowing it? It’s only twenty-four short chapters, and it’s not like anyone is forcing you to keep reading after that!
I published this on the evening of December 2nd. If you start your reading of the Gospel of Luke today or tomorrow, you won’t have much catch-up to do. And you’ll finish the story right in time to celebrate Jesus Christ on Christmas Eve.
-999
