In the very near future I plan to blog about my reading from last year; the books I read, the best of the bunch, some thoughts about the year. But before I do that, on this second day of 2017, I wanted to ask you a question: What are your reading plans for 2017?

Reading plans? What’s all this about reading plans?

I’m glad you asked!

Here are some tips I posted last year, when I reviewed my reading from 2015, in regards to reading more books in a calendar year:

• Always have a book with you. This is easy in the digital age.
• Have a specific goal in mind. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.
• Redeem wasted minutes throughout the day. There are many 10-15 minute blocks of usable time throughout the day in which reading would be a great activity.
• Keep a record of everything that you read. This will encourage you!
• Limit your entertainment intake. More screens usually equates to less books read.
• Get recommendations by people you trust. Reading great books is easier than reading lousy ones.
• Read to glorify God. Because God.
• Read several books at once or only one at a time. I’ve found that either of these may be helpful.
• Read a book on why reading is so important. Two birds with one stone.
• Read books around a theme that interests you. I am in a “books about preaching” phase and my excitement about preaching encourages me to read more.

The second tip–have a specific goal in mind–is part of a reading plan. As is “read books around a theme that interests you.” These are aspects of what might become, hopefully, your reading plan.

Let me give you my reading plan for 2017 in the hopes that it clarifies what I mean by “a reading plan.”

I intend to,

1. Begin the year with a book by Jonathan Edwards. (This year I have already begun On Knowing Christ.)
2. Read the 6 volumes which comprise The Works of John Flavel.
3. Read the 4 volumes which comprise the Collected Writings of John Murray.
4. Re-read, from 2016, A Peculiar Glory by John Piper and The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson.
5. Read some of Shakespeare’s plays.
6. Read a total of 40 books.

That is my plan. But don’t let it intimidate you if it looks like it is way more than think you’d like to plan for. A reading plan can be very simple: “I want to read 10 books this year” or “I’d like to spend one hour a week reading.”

But here is the thing I’m encouraging you to do: have a plan. I believe that having a plan, any plan, will help you read this year. And I think that is important. Of course, reading THE book, the Bible, is the mostest important book to read this year. Do that. But additionally, it is important to read corollary books about our faith. Read books about theology, Christian living, apologetics, whatever, because this can be a very helpful action as you walk with Christ this year. I’m not the only one who thinks this. For instance, so does Jonathan Edwards (as I have learned in my first book of 2017).

In On Knowing Christ, a collection of sermons, Edwards writes, “Every Christian should make a business of endeavouring to grow in knowledge of divinity” because “there can be no spiritual knowledge of that which there is not first a rational knowledge.” Edwards doesn’t leave us alone with this exhortation to “grow in knowledge.” He gives us specific steps, one of which is to “procure, and diligently use, other books which may help you grow in this knowledge.”

So there you have it. Even Jonathan Edwards thinks you should read. Having a reading plan will help you do that very thing.

So, what is your reading plan? I’d love to hear it. Maybe you could even post it in the comments section. Either way, have a plan for 2017. And then read.