For those looking for a Bible reading plan, each week in 2026 I will post 2 chapters to read per day as a main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2026, I’ll post the extra chapters to read that week. The main readings will include nearly all of the New Testament, plus Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, and a few other Old Testament books.
Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings will be about 9 chapters per week. These readings will cover the Pentateuch, the OT histories, a few other OT books, plus Jude and Revelation from the NT.
I hope this encourages others to read and study their Bible more, whatever parts they decide to read. Follow along (or not) any way you choose!
2 chapter a day plan:
Monday, February 23: Psalm 54, Mark 14 Tuesday, February 24: Psalm 55, Mark 15 Wednesday, February 25: Psalm 56, Mark 16 Thursday, February 26: Psalm 57, Song of Solomon 1 Friday, February 27: Psalm 58, Song of Solomon 2 Saturday, February 28: Psalm 59, Song of Solomon 3 Sunday, March 1: Psalm 60, Song of Solomon 4
Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible in 2026: Exodus 20-28
The Bible is a book for all people, in all times and places, and its lessons hold eternal value. Yet the Bible was also written in particular times and places and knowledge of those contexts is sometimes assumed rather than explained. For instance, in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, we read the phrase, in parenthesis: “(For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”. We also read that Jesus and His disciples “had to pass through Samaria.” Hate is a difficult thing to measure or quantify, but the story assumes we know something about how intense the Jews’ hate for Samaritans was.
According to Warren Wiersbe, “So intense was [the Jews’] dislike of the Samaritans that some of the Pharisees prayed that no Samaritan would be raised in the resurrection!”[1] This hate was so strong that many Orthodox Jews would travel much longer routes around Samaria to avoid setting foot in it. They thought the dirt itself would contaminate them. Why all this hate?
One reason for this hate was genetic. Anyone who reads the Old Testament knows there are many extensive genealogies. To the Jew, it was very important to know which of the original 12 tribes you descended from and that your ancestors had not intermarried with people of other religions. But Samaritans genealogies were not pure enough for them. Much of Samaria was populated with the descendants of poorer Jews left behind by the Assyrians, many of whom had intermarried with foreigners the Assyrians planted there. So, Jews in Judah looked down on Samaritans because of their mixed genealogy. The Samaritans were considered “half-breeds.”
Another reason was religious. When the Samaritan woman said “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” in John 4:20, she was referring to an alternative Judaism. Among other differences, the Samaritans had a center of worship on Mount Gerizim, with its own temple. They even re-wrote parts of the Pentateuch to justify this.[2] To Israel, Jerusalem was the only center of worship. Sacrifices to Yahweh were only to be offered there, and every male was supposed to make a pilgrimage there three times every year. There was to be no rival temple, and therefore the Samaritans (in the Jewish mind) had cut themselves off from the true worship of Yahweh and should be shunned.
John has to write that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” because doing that was unusual, especially for a Jewish rabbi like Jesus. But then Jesus went there, simply being in Samaria was a strong statement that Jesus didn’t care for the hateful tribalism. But not only did He go there, He interacted with its people, at a time when “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Jesus was and would continue to break down these barriers. In the four gospels, Jesus preached to the Jews first, then to the “half-breed” Samaritans, then to full Gentiles, and the apostles followed the same pattern in Acts. This sequence progressively illustrated that the gospel is for all tribes of people.
What does this mean for us today? Hate like what the Jews felt for Samaritans is rampant and if Jesus could overcome that hate, He can overcome any hate. Any reasons we have for hating, or even disliking people just because of what group or tribe they belong to aren’t good enough reasons.
But tribal rivalries are everywhere we look: national and regional, political and economic, cultural and ethnic, musical and athletic, and every other dimension we can imagine. But no tribal loyalty is more important than the obligation to love God and love our neighbor, no matter who they are.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:38-39 –
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Not only does this describe the love God has for us in Jesus, but it also describes the love we should have for others. Nothing should get in the way, including any religious, racial or other differences.
Jesus overcomes tribalism, and so should His people.
[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Alive (John 1-12) (1986). P.65. [2] Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1886). P. 274-5.
Although highly allergic to cats, I love the two we have, but sometimes wonder if it’s worth the trouble. One past Saturday night, one of the cats, named Misty, was up crying much of the night, waking us up regularly. Eventually, I realized she must have been upset about her litter. The store was out of the “usual,” so I tried to get away with a replacement, even though I know how finicky cats are. Sure enough, once I changed it to what I had left of the usual stuff (kept in reserve in case of finicky cat trouble), she stopped complaining.
Why am I telling you this? Because what happened next reminded me that God is concerned about even the most minor details of our lives, and about every living creature He has made. That Sunday morning my reading schedule began with Psalm 8, which includes this:
“You have given [man] dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.”- Psalm 8:6-8
Misty, an indoor cat who may feel like she’s trapped in the ark.
Under the mandate given in Genesis, mankind is supposed to take care of whatever God has given us – the earth and everything in it. My study Bible helpfully noted that this includes pets, which reminded me of Misty’s crying! I thought maybe our cats were worth the trouble after all, but God wasn’t finished making the point.
Also on my reading schedule was Genesis 7, which includes: “And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.” – Genesis 7:24
During the flood, Noah and his family were flooded in the ark for 150 days with two of each kind of animal (but seven of each kind of clean animal, because provision was made not only for the survival of Noah’s family, but also provision for continued worship of God). After the 150 days, they had to wait months longer for the waters to recede and the land to dry before coming out of the ark. Noah’s family took care of an ark full of animals for more than 150 days. They probably lost a lot of sleep! As for me, I only have two cats and get to leave the house. I also have allergy medicine to make it more tolerable.
Looking back at Psalm 8, the last verse declares: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
This Lord is the same one who brought Noah, his family, and those animals through the flood. He also cares about my family and even my pets. In seemingly small acts like taking care of pets God has given us, we can declare the majesty of God’s name! In whatever influence we have, big or small, God wants us to participate faithfully in the work started at creation, with the authority He has given us.
In addition to perhaps cats, what else might we be allergic to? Sin is not just a list of things we shouldn’t do, but it is our allergy to God’s dominion over the world and the way we each should have dominion over it and under him. We’re too often allergic to loving this world the way He did on the cross, yet we claim to hope for a world where that sacrificial love governs 100% of all actions.
Our Lord wants nothing more than to greet us in Paradise and say “‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’”[1] He literally died to make such a greeting possible. Therefore, consider what creatures or people our Sovereign God has delegated to each of us. What tasks or roles? Jobs or ministries? Do some of those things irritate and annoy us, as if we were allergic?
In aggregate, the church’s role is to have dominion over His entire creation, but not in the way the world would, exploiting everything for our own benefit and casting aside what doesn’t seem useful, but as a servant would. Like a God who abhors all our sin as if He were allergic but decided to cover our sin with His own precious blood. The same blood that covers us so that, like a compassionate Father, our Lord can gently say on a Sunday morning after a bad night of interrupted sleep:
“Be thankful you aren’t stuck in an ark for 150 days with thousands of animals.”
When reading the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, chapters 34 and 35, I noticed the two chapters together have an interesting contrast. In chapter 34, with Jerusalem under siege by the Babylonians, King Zedekiah ordered the people to release all of their Hebrew slaves, seemingly with the motivation of appeasing God. However, soon the people were returned to slavery.[1] In chapter 35, this behavior is contrasted with the Rechabites, who, for about 200 years, had obeyed their ancestors’ vow to not drink wine, or build houses, but to live in tents. God tells Jeremiah to call some Rechabites together, pour them some wine, and offer it to them. But they refused to drink, citing their ancestral vow.[2] The two stories together illustrate that this family could obey a stricter code than God’s, from a lesser authority (their human ancestor), and on less-important issues. The Rechabites are an admirable example to the rest of God’s people, and a testament to what the covenant faithfulness of God to us looks like.
What does this story have to do with Lent? This metaphor from the Apostle Paul provides some help:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24-26
Paul says discipline and self-control are valuable in the same way that training is valuable to an athlete – they bring us closer to obtaining an objective that is valuable to us. To those who love God, being a disciple will require discipline, and vows are a form of discipline.
Lent is celebrated many different ways by many different people but is generally seen as a time to practice spiritual discipline as a way to greater awareness of, gratefulness toward, and/or obedience to, God. Often something is given up for the 40 days of Lent, which makes it in some ways similar to the vows of the Rechabites, or the Nazirite vow taken by Samson (or by his parents) in the book of Judges[3].
However, if we do not value the prize – God Himself – nothing we give up for Lent will make us – or God Himself – happy. Lent will not help us love Him, or our neighbors, more. Like the Israelites who flip-flopped on slavery, treating it as a bargaining chip with God and not as an act of faithfulness to Him, wrong motivations can lead to cycles of disappointment. But, for those in Christ, the prize is worth every ounce of effort we can put into it. Discipline during Lent can be like lifting weights for an athlete, strengthening them, and enabling them to better compete in their sport, but discipline during Lent for the sake of self-denial or for trying to impress God is to aim too low. True religion to God is not a trade – He has already given us everything in Christ Jesus and we can’t earn more. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” – Matthew 5:5
I’ll close with this long quote C.S. Lewis’ sermon, The Weight of Glory:
“The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”[4]
[Note: Today’s post idea came to me this morning, based on the beginning of Lent and tying together a couple of things I’ve recently read. While not really part of the Beatitudes series, this post seemed fitting. However, with Return To Office beginning, Lent has already begun by the time I could write this!]
[1] Jeremiah 34:8-11 [2] Jeremiah 35:1-10 [3] Judges 13:7 [4] Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory (1949). P. 25-26.
Many people think the God of the Old Testament is a God of judgement, and the God of the New Testament is a God of love, but I’m not sure these people are paying attention. The whole Bible speaks to us of the same God. The Old Testament is full of stories about God pursuing His people, calling them to come back to Him because He loves them. Likewise, the New Testament has many passages like Luke 13:24-27, in which Jesus says:
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’”
Not only does Jesus here pass judgement on “workers of evil,” but many other places point forward to a time where Jesus will come again to judge the earth in righteousness and justice. But that may not be the scariest part of the verses above from Luke. In these verses, Jesus isn’t talking about just any “workers of evil,” but He’s talking specifically about people who think they’re following Jesus.
These verses are a response to someone asking Jesus: “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”[1] His response to the question isn’t “yes, they will be few” but more like “yes, because many are trying to get there the wrong way.” These people say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets”? In my reading, this phrase is like saying “we go to church.” In church we “ate and drank” with Jesus in communion. When we listen to sermons, it was like “you taught in our streets.” They were around Jesus all the time and doing what other Christians do, but as 20th century evangelist Billy Sunday said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”
We can’t get salvation by our own efforts, even if we do all the “right things” but only through what Christ has already done. Christ’s work is the “narrow door” and anything else will be a closed door when Jesus returns in judgement. Part of what we call the visible church is going to be shut out. Jesus says many in the church “will seek to enter and will not be able.” These are people seeking salvation, who “knock at the door” but don’t get in.
Does this mean we should spend a lot of effort on figuring out who is and who isn’t a true Christian? It doesn’t, but it does mean we all should examine ourselves, which is what I think Jesus expected from His audience when He said these things. As James asked “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”[2] I ask myself, since I call Jesus my Lord, what things do I do only because He wants me to? Do I do more than hang around Jesus and His people? Do I do things that earn me nothing in return, but which please God? This is what I think is meant by Paul when he wrote in Philippians 2:12 “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Although our salvation is free, and can only be earned by Jesus Himself, if we believe in Him then He is our Lord. We should fear Him and do works that please Him.
Therefore, “strive to enter through the narrow door” of Jesus’ righteousness that was opened for us on the cross, but know that we won’t be the same on the other side. We will be forever changed.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 