I like New Year’s resolutions. About 60% of Americans will join with me and make them over the next few days as we head into 2020. Here is the most important one that you can make: read the Bible daily.

It is the single biggest predictor of your spiritual growth in 2020.

This fact has been demonstrated by lots of studies, and it is taught by the Word of God itself.

Dr. John Farquhar Plake may be the world’s leading expert on Bible engagement and spiritual growth. He has studied all the research on spiritual formation available through the massive studies by Reveal (Willow Creek), LifeWay, and every other major organization. And then, recently, as part of his work for the American Bible Society, he reviewed a comprehensive survey of 600,000 churchgoing adults and Christian university students. In a recent conversation, he told me it all points to the same conclusion.

Plake summarizes it this way: an individual’s relationship with the Bible is the single most powerful predictor of his or her overall spiritual health.

That is important information as you make your New Year’s resolutions. Every experienced church leader that I know would concur. But, most importantly, this is also what the Word of God itself teaches us.

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