Tabletalk Magazine 2020 Bible Reading Plan

The Voyage of Life: Manhood by Thomas Cole 1842 - Washington National Gallery

In December 2018 I uploaded a post very similar to this one encouraging everyone to read through the Bible in 2019. If you are following the recommended reading plan, we will finish that endeavor in two more days. In early 2019, many friends and colleagues indicated their intention to take this reading journey with me. One friend recently told me that he read the entire Bible this year for the first time and said that it was a rewarding experience. I have carried the reading plan all over the world this year and I 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 intend to do it again in 2020. It is always rewarding and takes relatively little time.

A copy of the Tabletalk Magazine Bible in a Year 2020 reading plan is provided at the end of this post.

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 available to 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 2020. 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.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

S.D.G