"How do you read the Bible regularly without it becoming stale?  I like good books, but...."

I enjoy beginning again with God every year and usually have new things to set out to accomplish as goals over time.  I'm just one of "those people".  My spiritual and physical lives tend to track with one another.

So how does a person "begin again with God" each year?  Isn't it redundant to do so again (in 2010)?  For example, if I'm reading the Bible through or doing daily readings this year how will it be fresh if I've read many of these passages before?

Here's what I do.  I read it in a new translation of the Bible, often one I can place beside my usual preference.  I especially enjoy doing this with The Message by Eugene Petersen.  It is published in letter form without verses, so it helps me to consider it as it was originally written.  Petersen also writes in today's language, so that many of the expressions are phrased in a way I might hear if it had taken place on the street in my presence.  I enjoy it because I "listen" to the new ways of saying what I may already have memorized in the past.

So, why not try it yourself?  Here are some other things I think you'll find in addition to an aid in paying attention.

   -   You'll find God speaks clearly in new ways to your heart in a fashion that will thrill you and inspire you to listen for the Spirit regularly.  It always seems to have a new application every time I read.

   -   You'll notice how passages tend to "link" to one another and a sense of God's hand at work through each writer in different seasons will arrest your thoughts.  (Example: John the Baptist's explanation of the difference between his baptism and that of Jesus' will come to mind as you also read Peter's explanation of how he participated in the healing he is on trial for in Acts 4.)

   -   God will use what you learn during the day.  You can easily consider what would be God's way of leading you in all things if you were able to completely store His word in your heart.  It's the most exciting thing I've known and is the most practical way to prove He is the way, truth, and life.  When you use His word, it works!

Then, guess what - you might consider trying an entirely new volume of the Bible than you regularly use and begin making new notes in the margins - wearing out another volume of God's wonderful word with His word to YOU!

Kevin