Merry Christmas from Primarium
The German Baroque composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, ended all of his Church music compositions with the letters “S.D.G” for “Soli Deo Gloria” meaning glory to God alone. God is indeed glorified whenever Bach’s compositions are played. The talent that Bach possessed to write these pieces originated from God. Bach understood what the Westminster Confession of Faith famously states: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” This doctrinal truth applies to each of us no less than it did to Bach. It is why we exist. It does not matter what job you hold, whether you even have a job, or what skills or education you may or may not have. This begs a question – how does anyone glorify God in his/her work and daily life? Rather than attempt to answer that question, I will point you to the same resource studied by Bach – the Bible.
In our modern world, few people have ever read the entire Bible; many have never opened it. Nonetheless, its influence on the legal systems of the Western World is profound. In fact, I don’t think you can understand history or modern cultures without an understanding of the Bible. You may be surprised to find that the Bible addresses a wide array of social interactions, business ethics, and leadership skills that are invaluable to any business professional. My challenge to you is to simply read it in 2019. All of it. It will affect you and you will have answers to the question presented above.
Over the years, I have read through the Bible many times. In some years, I have simply started at the beginning and continued to the end over a period of one to two years. In other years, I have used complex reading plans that require you to bounce around the entire Bible over the course of a year. My favorite approach has been to use the Tabletalk Magazine Bible in a Year reading plan reading one Old Testament passage and one New Testament passage each day. With that plan, you can keep the context of each book in focus as you read through the Bible in its normal order. I am almost finished with the 2018 plan shown above. I have carried that tattered piece of paper all over the world this year and try to read the daily passages each morning. I have fallen behind and had to catch up several times but I stayed with it.
I am re-gifting a Bible reading plan Christmas present to you for the year ahead. Please do an Internet search for “Tabletalk Bible Reading Plan” to find the free plan shown above. I was not able to find the 2019 plan at the time of this post but suspect that It might be published later in December. If you are unable to find it, send me an email and I will send you a copy or the link when I am able to download my own copy. I intend to do it again in 2019. It is a rewarding thing to do that takes relatively little time.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
S.D.G