First of all, why would you want to write out a verse or two every day?
The habits we create in our own lives make us who we are – they indicated what is important to us. Probably we brush our teeth a couple times a day – a few minutes to make sure we have healthy teeth. Most likely we shower – a few minutes to feeling clean and refreshed. Maybe we go for a walk or run first – an or so to improve the health of our body. Perhaps we take time in the evening to get ready for the next day – half an hour to feeling organized and prepared. Not all habits are healthy of course, but that is why it is important to create habits that are. If you believe the Bible is a book that can equip you for any circumstance in life, then interacting with it daily is a bit like eating breakfast which is known to improve the overall quality of your day. Writing out a few verses is an easy task – a few minutes that gives you a little bit of God’s word to meditate on during the day.
Secondly, why would you want to stick with one theme for a whole year?
Topical themes can easily address common and specific needs and all that the Bible has to say about them. It is an opportunity to connect people who can all be doing the same thing at the same time and therefore relate to each other and hopefully start conversations. It also means that is really not that hard to just jump in whenever and participate and if you miss a few days, it is not a big deal. And at the end of the year you will have something that records what God says for future reference or study.
The topic for this year is one that I chose because it is where we all need to start if we claim to be believers. Loving our neighbour is at first glance an easier, more quantifiable task than loving God and yet loving God is the first commandment. We are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbours as ourselves, and yet maybe sometimes we can get this mixed up. We may sometimes unintentionally love God as if He was ourselves and we can decide what love is, and our neighbours with all our heart, mind, soul and strength because it gives us the satisfaction of having clearly accomplished something. Perhaps it is only me that has a problem with this, but trying to get the order right does end up leading us to loving our neighbour in the right way – not as the purpose of our lives but as the result of loving God. I think today that this is an important distinction. Both loving God and loving our neighbour are essential because neither are just about individual salvation and a perfect life now, they are meant to lead us to care for the salvation of the whole world and what is eternal.
Grab a notebook and write down a verse or two each day of 2023. There will be a new verse list posted on The Scripture Writing Page for you to download every month, God willing.
– Julie Snobelen
You can share your verse writing on instagram at: www.instagram.com/mht.scripturewriting/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
If you would like a prepared journal for this writing plan, you can find it on Amazon:
Amazon USA – www.amazon.com/Love-LORD-your-God-Planner/dp/B0BNGH4WHK/
Amazon Canada – www.amazon.ca/Love-LORD-your-God-Planner/dp/B0BNGH4WHK/
This is a video of the prepared journal from Amazon: