← A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace
A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace
Discovering the Beauty of Jesus Through Scripture in 2026
00:23:25
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- [00:00]
A
Hey, Year in the Bible. Listeners, we're sharing a special episode with you today that also aired on the Daily Grace Podcast. In this episode, you'll be able to meet myself, Shelby, and my three co hosts, Scott, C.J. and Paul, who will be hosting A Year in the Bible Season 5 in 2026. You'll also hear more about the year long study that we'll be walking through, A Year in the Bible, and what we hope that you learn through through walking through the Bible with us in a year in 2026. We hope you enjoy this episode. Hey, everybody, and welcome to the final episode of the Daily Grace podcast for 2025. My name is Shelby and I have three amazing co hosts with me today. I've got Scott, CJ and Paul. Hey, guys.
- [00:53]
B
Hi, Shelby.
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C
Yo. Hey.
- [00:55]
A
So you might not be familiar with these three guys, but they're a really important part of our editorial team, the Daily Grace Company. I've had the opportunity to work with them on projects big and small, helping me get my commas in the right place, making sure that my theological terminology is precise and accurate. And I know you're really going to love getting to know them in this episode. Guys, can you take just a second and introduce yourself? Tell us what you do here at the Daily Grace Company and then also tell us what you like doing for fun when you're not at work. What about your life outside of work? We'd love to know about that too.
- [01:29]
B
Yeah. My name is Scott and I serve as a theological editor here at the Daily Grace Co. So while I do get to do some writing, which is fun, mainly what I get to do is review what we put out, make sure that everything is theologically accurate, clear for the reader, and helpful, and just faithful to what the Bible actually teaches and what I enjoy doing outside of here. You asked. Reading, obviously. I love playing with my boys, love watching football, often playing football with my boys. So if I can merge those two. So, yeah, a little bit about me.
- [01:59]
A
Yeah, I love that. So, you know, we're recording on a Monday right now. Yesterday was Sunday. There's a lot of football games on Sunday in my house. There was football being played while football was being watched. Did that happen in your house?
- [02:10]
C
Yes.
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A
Okay, just checking because, yeah, I know our boys have similar interests. So, yeah, outside of work, similar things in our homes.
- [02:17]
D
Yes.
- [02:18]
A
Glad to have you here, Scott.
- [02:19]
B
Glad to be here.
- [02:20]
C
My name is CJ and I work on the editorial team. I started back in September. Most of my free time goes to my family. I have three little kids And I have a wife, so I hang out with them a lot. Like Scott, I like to read a lot, too. I think that's probably gonna be a common answer that you hear from all of us. I like being outside. We're very outdoorsy type people. And that's a little bit about me.
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A
Yeah. Okay. What are you reading right now, C.J. we'd love to know.
- [02:44]
C
I'm reading a book called A Fire that Consumes by a guy named Edward Fudge. Actually spurred on from a conversation that Scott and I had about a separate thing. Yeah.
- [02:54]
A
All right. Never heard of that book. Going to have to check it out.
- [02:57]
D
I'm Paul, and I'm an editor here. And I joined the staff back in July of this year, and I've gotten to do a mix of a lot of different things. I've done a good chunk of writing, editing, resources, of course, from all stages of ideation to final touches, and then even doing some theological review with Scott, which has been a lot of fun. And I've just loved every single minute of my time here. Honestly, when I'm not at work, I love spending time with my wife. She's a band director, and so at a high school. And so we go to a lot of high school football games, which is a lot of fun. We're also big travelers. We love to travel when we're not at work. And also we like to play video games together. Board games and also reading, of course. Kind of a prerequisite, I feel like, to have this job. So.
- [03:36]
A
Yeah, love that. Okay. You said you love traveling. What's a recent place you've traveled?
- [03:41]
D
Oh, man. We just actually got back from a trip to Disney World. That's a common destination for her family. It's almost like a yearly thing because beginning of the year, we don't usually have one on the calendar, but by the end of the year, we find ourselves down there at some point, so.
- [03:53]
A
Oh, that is awesome. We're doing Disney next year with our kids, we decided. So I'm gonna have to hit you.
- [03:58]
D
Up for tips for sure.
- [03:59]
C
Yeah.
- [04:00]
A
Okay. Thanks for introducing yourselves, guys. So nice to get to know you a little bit more. Let's go ahead and get into our discussion for today. So a lot of times toward the end of one year or the beginning of the next, people decide that they want to commune with God through Scripture in a deeper way than they have the year before. I know that's always been true for me. And so for our listeners today, what we want to talk through is what it would look like to have a really consistent time in scripture in 2026, a really fruitful time in scripture in 2026, and time in Scripture where we're actually growing closer to God. So, Paul, let's start with you. What might it look like for someone to be consistent in Scripture? Do you have any tips, any tricks, anything that you can teach us about this?
- [04:47]
D
Yeah, yeah, There's. For consistency, there's a few things I would say. I think the first thing is picking a reading plan that you are excited about. And, you know, there's literally hundreds of types of reading plans out there. You know, you have some that are canonical, that read the whole Bible from Genesis, Revelation, some that are chronological, that follow the timeline of Scripture, some that have Old Testament and New Testament every day, even some that will kind of intersperse the psalms throughout the year. And I think just whichever one you do, picking one that you're excited about, picking one that makes you want to get into Scripture really definitely helps because you're more likely to follow it if you're excited to read every day. So that's the first thing, I think. The second thing is maybe even getting some friends in on the fun of doing your reading plan with you. I think reading in community is so valuable, not just because, you know, you're keeping each other accountable, but also because you have that opportunity to have those conversations maybe about passages that were confusing or even encouraging to you, that you can just say, hey, you know, I really love this today and just want you guys to really press in. You know, when I was in college, I would often pick a reading plan with some friends. And what we do is we'd create a Google Doc where we would all basically get in there every day and write our thoughts down on the passage that day. So not only can I see, hey, you didn't do your reading yesterday, bro. You know, but I could also see when they did, you know, they could share their thoughts and, you know, see what was encouraging to them, what was challenging to them. That really, really was helpful for me in college. And then I think the last thing I'd say is, you know, just remembering that, like, you know, we're aiming for consistency, not perfection. And I think, you know, it's important to remember that reading the Bible itself is not the end. It's a means to an end. And that end is a intimate relationship with God. And, you know, it's certainly one of, if not the most important means to that end. But when you miss a day or two, because it probably will happen it's important to remember that the consistency with which you read the Bible is not the standard God assesses you on.
- [06:42]
A
Right.
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D
He still loves you. And, you know, even though it may not be as obvious to you that day, you may be a bit less aware of it when you don't read scripture. He still loves you. And that's not the thing that God's going to, you know, judge you on. And, you know, I think I say that because personally for me, and maybe some listeners can relate to this. You know, when I start missing days in Scripture, there's oftentimes this little voice of shame that comes in the back of my head that starts saying things like, oh, you must be such a bad Christian or you don't love God that much, you know, And I think that voice is distinct from one of conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit because that voice of shame actually makes me want to read my Bible less. It makes me feel worse about myself and it's trying to say something about who I am as a child of God. Whereas a voice of conviction encourages me to read Scripture. It makes me want to lean into God by saying, hey, you know, I love you. I want to invite you into this. Right. And so, you know, when you start hearing that voice of shame, if you've missed a few days, it's important to just pray and release that to the Lord and ask him to replace that with that voice of genuine conviction to really just lean into that time of scripture in a very encouraging way.
- [07:45]
A
Yeah. So much wisdom in what you just said. First of all, you talked about picking a Bible reading plan that you're excited about. I love year long Bible reading plans. I tend to pick a different one each year. I once sat under a pastor and this is kind of what inspired me toward this. He was encouraging our whole congregation to go through a year long long Bible reading plan together. And he said it was his 26th year of reading the entire Bible through in a year. And he is someone whose teaching I loved sitting under. I'm sure he studied the Bible in many ways throughout his time as a pastor, but I have no doubt that reading the Bible through for 26 years in a row, he just had so much biblical knowledge. And so we're going to talk in a minute about the year long plan that we're going through and we, the four of us are going to be leading people through in our other podcast, A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. But, but you also talked in there about, you know, consistency and not feeling shame when you Miss a day. An analogy that I love to use when we're talking about consistent scripture reading is eating. Some days you have, like, the best meal of your life, and you spend four hours preparing it, and it's absolutely delicious, and you have tons of leftovers, and you share it with friends, you know, maybe a holiday meal. Other days for me, I'm like, girl, dinner, grabbing a few, like, crackers and cheese cubes. But you know what? Like, every day, I'm eating in some way. Some days, I really enjoy what I'm eating. Other days, it's not my favorite meal, but I cooked it because my kids like it or my husband likes it or something. And I think that scripture reading, if we expect it to be like a feast every single day, that's just probably not realistic. But if we view it as like, hey, I ate a really huge meal yesterday, but today I listened to the audio Bible in the car on the go, and that's like, the time that I had today. I think that that's all right. And I love that you're. You're bringing up just that, hey, your consistency in scripture isn't the means by which God judges your righteousness. So I think that's a really important thing. We can get caught up in thinking that it is, for sure. All right, so let's begin to talk about what it looks like to have a really fruitful time in scripture. We want to spend time in scripture, and we want to be transformed through that. We want to understand what we're reading, and we also want our life to be formed to it. C.J. i'm wondering, do you have anything to help us out to have a more fruitful time in scripture in 2026?
- [10:06]
C
So when I hear that, I think of how do we understand it and then how do we live it out? And in terms of understanding it, I have a few things I'd like to say that we've kind of already touched on already, and that is consistency and accountability and also having a trusted resource or a trusted guide to go alongside you, as you guys have already kind of mentioned. But when it comes to living it out, this is a little bit more personal, and it might vary from person to person, but again, here are a few things that I'd say. So to begin, we want to be people who appreciate God's story. We appreciate scripture, and we look for Christ in that scripture, and we look for where we fit into that scripture, too. So think of it as a play or a movie or something like that. And you see Christ's role. He's the main lead actor. But you also want to figure out, well, how do I fit into the story as well? And then a few key questions that you can ask yourself as you're reading, too, is what does this passage have to say about God's plan to redeem the world? Or am I letting the truth of this passage shape me and determine the part I play in the story? And I think these questions can really lead to a fruitful time in the scripture. And then also, most importantly, before we read and as we read and after we read, we want to be praying that the Scriptures would transform us and that the Lord would meet us there.
- [11:17]
A
Yeah, I think that's really good advice. I'm going to recommend a couple resources. If people are like, I don't know where to start with figuring out what scripture says. One, we have a great journal called the in the Word Journal, and it's just going to guide you through a series of prompts that are going to help you see the big story of Scripture, going to help you see Christ in Scripture, and going to help you apply that. Huge fan of that journal. I have one that's all marked up at home that I regularly use. And then second, if you are reading and you're feeling confused, a great study Bible can help you out there, really encourage that. But we have a couple of resources on our website. We have the Bible Handbook that's going to simply break down each book of the Bible for you. One of my favorite features in there is that there's an outline of each book. Sometimes you're reading and you recognize there's been a scene change. The people we were just talking about, we are no longer talking about. We're talking about new people. What that outline for each book does is help you recognize those scene changes so that you can understand the passage you're in and how it fits in in that book and in the bigger piece of scripture. And then we also have the Bible Study Handbook, which if you really just want to learn to study the Bible on your own, it is going to take you step by step and walk you through from start to finish. Man, I love that resource so much. I'm looking at Scott. We worked a lot on that together. It's going to start from the very basics, though, and take you into some really granular, detailed study of Scripture. So if you're wanting some more resources, those would be great ones to check out. Scott one more question before we begin to kind of wrap up this episode. If someone's desire is to grow closer to God through spending time in Scripture. What would you say to them?
- [13:02]
B
Yeah, that's a wonderful question, Shelby. I think I would say simply to come expectant to your time in God's word. Expect to hear from God. And I think of a very familiar passage in this regard of 2 Timothy 3, when Paul tells Timothy that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness so that we would be complete equipped for every good work. And Shelby, I think it's just a great reminder that, like all of scripture, yes, Ephesians, Matthew, Romans, but also Nahum and Leviticus and Obadiah, all of those books are given by God to shape us and inform us and to have an effect on the way we live. And when I remind myself of that, it just changes the posture with which I come to Scripture. Because the question is never is God saying something to me through this passage. Rather, the question is, what is God wanting me to see in this passage? What is God choosing to say to me in what I'm reading? And a caveat that might be a hard question to answer. If you are in Nahum, you might be like, I don't know what I just read and that's fair. But I think just even asking that question of just like, of stopping and saying God is speaking to me through this passage, I'm not sure what it is yet, but I want to find out. That just changes your posture, the way at which you come to Scripture. And I think it just reminds you of the relational nature of what you're doing when you're reading the Bible. It's not just this checklist activity. It's like you're actually communing with God.
- [14:33]
D
God.
- [14:34]
B
And so I think that reminder is good for me just to remember that. And so, yeah, I'm not just reading words. I'm actually hearing God speak to me when I'm reading in Matthew or Obadiah or whatever.
- [14:47]
A
Yeah, I think that we need that reminder daily. And I think that's a great reminder for us, Scott. So the study that we're going to be walking through together as co hosts in the A Year in the Bible podcast is a study called A Year in the Bible. And the subtitle of that study is 365 days of discovering the Beauty of Jesus From Genesis to Revelation. So we've talked about seeing Christ in Scripture, but I'm curious, in this study specifically, we're looking at the beauty of Jesus. I'm wondering for you all what does that exactly mean to see the beauty of Scripture? And then what does that look like for you guys as you're spending time in God's word, seeing the beauty of Jesus?
- [15:30]
C
So for me, seeing the beauty of scripture is seeing how all the pieces work together. And ultimately what that leads to is how all pieces lead to Christ. So there's a phrase that people say, all roads lead to Rome, and if we change that a little bit, we could say all scriptures lead to Christ. And I think it's the same sort of principle. So just for an example of something that speaks to me, I think of the story of Ruth and I think of this insignificant random woman in the ancient world who's just struggling to eat and she's sad that she doesn't have a child and that her husband's died and so on and so forth, and how not only does God provide for her, but we find later on in the book of Matthew that that insignificant woman is actually part of Christ's genealogy. It's actually an ancestress of Christ. So I think seeing those little through lines in Scripture and seeing how just the little tiny pieces all work up and lead to Christ, I think is what it means to see the beauty of Scripture in Christ and all scripture.
- [16:22]
A
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm so excited for people who go through this study because we've made sure to find all of those for you and put those in the study content. And so you're saying like all roads lead to Christ in really 365 days of content you're going to see, you're going to see that lead to Christ through every chapter of Scripture, which is really, really cool. Scott, what about you? What do you think?
- [16:44]
B
Yeah, that's such a good question. So when I think about the beauty of Christ in Scripture, where my mind goes is that we all experience the ache of living in a fallen world. And it's helpful to remember that Jesus is the answer to that ache. In the entire Bible. It's just a recollection of what God has done, what God is doing, and what he will do to restore what was broken in the fall. And in that way, I think it's fair to say the entire Bible is proof that God has not given up on us, God has not abandoned us. And Jesus is the clearest example of that truth. All of God's promises are fulfilled in him. And one day he's going to return to right all wrongs. And I'm just always staggered by the fact that Jesus, by taking on Flesh, living in our broken world, dying a horrific death shows us that God loved us at great costs to himself. Which just reminds me that he is worthy of my devotion my whole life, all my worship.
- [17:38]
A
Yeah, absolutely. I don't think that's a truth that we'll ever get over. It's just washes over you each time you think about it. So thanks for sharing that, Scott. Paul, what would you add?
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D
Yeah, I'd add that I think for me it's remembering that in each and every moment that I'm reading scripture that Jesus is with me. And, you know, scripture tells us that his name is Emmanuel, which means God with us. And I think remembering that truth makes my time in scripture that much more rich. That it's not just words on a page, but actually God with me, communicating with me. And sometimes it even kind of helps me to, like, imagine Jesus is sitting there at my kitchen table or on the couch with me as I'm reading. And I think, like I said earlier, you know, reading the Bible is not an end in itself. It's a means to an end. And that means of scripture is to the end, a fellowship with God. And so remembering that Jesus is spiritually present with me in every single moment that I read scripture helps me remember that I'm not just there to check a box or even to acquire knowledge of some kind. Although knowing about God is very important, but really just to experience that intimacy in a personal way. And when I think about that, it helps me carry it with me throughout the day. Right. God's presence isn't siloed to my time in scripture, which sometimes it can feel that way. But whenever I remember that he's right there with me in that moment when I close my Bible and I stand up for my table, he's still with me even as I go about my day.
- [19:05]
A
Yeah, that's super encouraging. Thanks for sharing that, Paul. Okay, as we start to wrap up this episode, we just wanna give a big invitation for people to join us in 2026 on the year in the Bible podcast. Mentioned it a couple times, but we'll be going through the A Year in the Bible study. And what that means is you can purchase these studies and you'll have one day of the study for every day of 2026. So there's 365 individual days of study, and each one of those goes over just a couple chapters of Scripture. We'll start in Genesis and we'll go canonically. So that just means in the order your Bible is printed through the entire thing. And we'll end end of Revelation at the very end of 2026. And you can do that study content. You can read the scripture for that day, and then you can put on a podcast with us where we're going to be breaking down that scripture just a little bit more. Each one of you guys are going to join me for an entire book. And so, Scott, you're joining me for Genesis. You're our resident expert on the book of Genesis. You've written and studied it in many different ways. And that'll start January. That'll start January 1st, which we're really, really excited about. If you don't want to use the studies, but you still want to follow along with us, you can also just do the reading plan alongside of us and then hop in and listen to that podcast each day. But it's going to be our joy to spend an entire year with you walking through the entire Bible. We're so, so excited about that. So to close out this episode, I'm wondering if you all can just share, what is it that you hope anyone who listens to the A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace podcast in 2026 walks away from even after listening to these really short, like five to seven minute episodes on each day's scripture?
- [20:57]
D
Yeah, I think my hope is that the podcast will really help some of our listeners to kind of stitch together some of the seams that run all throughout Scripture. So earlier CJ Was talking about, you know, all scriptures lead to Jesus. And I think that's obviously one thing that we'll do is point to Jesus. But we'll also kind of be studying these themes of God's people, God's promises, God's provision, God's power, and God's presence. And so following those five themes throughout the whole Bible will kind of help us to see that, you know, the Bible isn't just like a random collection of books. God actually intentionally wrote these words to us and to his people. And there's a consistent theme of redemption throughout the whole thing.
- [21:39]
A
Yeah, absolutely. Cj, what about you?
- [21:41]
C
I hope the youe're in the Bible podcast gives listeners consistency and accountability, and I hope it pushes them to see the beauty of Christ in all the scriptures.
- [21:50]
A
Yeah, absolutely. Scott, take us home.
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C
Yeah.
- [21:54]
B
My hope in prayer is that listeners will just gain clarity and appreciation for portions of the Bible that you've never read or you've read it before. And you're just like, I'm just so confused about what's happening here. And I really just hope that listeners grow in their confidence that they too can understand the Bible. So, you know, we're going to be covering typically three chapters a day, so there's just a lot we're not going to get to, you know. But you know, I hope in kind of at the pace we're going, people who go through the study will just be able to trace the major kind of contours of the biblical story and that understanding the big picture of the Bible better will just kind of lay a foundation for them to just further dive in to Bible study in the years to come.
- [22:36]
A
Yeah, that's my hope as well. And I'm so excited to also reap the benefits of going through the Bible in A Year with y'. All. Well, we mentioned lots of great resources today, the Year in the Bible Study, some handbooks, journals. We'll be sure and link all those things in the show notes. While you're in the Show Notes, you can also subscribe to the newsletter so you can stay up to date on all things daily. Grace Podcast so if you are listening to this on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, then we'll see you in just a couple days on January 1st. And don't forget to subscribe to the A Year in the Bible podcast so that those episodes daily will just drop right into your podcast feed. We'll see you Thursday. Bye.