In the neighborhood that I grew up the phrase, "it's coming" was enough to start a stampede. Usually this proclamation was followed by something wonderful. Maybe it was an ice cream truck, maybe it was a package we had been expecting. On a larger scale for a kid, it might be our grandparent's car, or the arrival of Santa's Sleigh in the long procession of a Christmas parade.

Whatever it was, a shout of "it's coming" was more than worth an immediate investigation.

This "It's coming" is just a reminder that in 21 days the Thirty-Day Bible Challenge will begin. This "challenge" is a simple method to help encourage us to do something that we all know we need to do, namely, to read the Bible. The reason that the challenge starts with the New Testament is because this is the covenant we are under. The word that is translated "testament" is literally a covenant. A covenant is a formal agreement - like a contract - in which the terms are strictly laid out so that both parties can know what to expect.

In this covenant, God has made the offer of eternal salvation. The New Testament is the only source of this contract for all who live during the time following Jesus' death burial and resurrection. For those who will familiarize themselves with this covenant, agreeing to its terms and then fulfilling the details of those terms, there is Heaven. Again, it must be stressed, that there is no other place to find out about the covenant and its conditions than the New Testament.

All decent people want to be pleasing to God, and all have the right to be rewarded for that desire. Just as fulfilling the terms of a sales contract for a house gives a person the right to owning that home, on a much larger scale the fulfilling of the terms of God's New Testament gives us the "right" to be called children of God and to be at home with Him and Jesus forever. We know that we do not deserve this right. It's like buying a million dollar home for a hundred dollars, but once the contract is accepted, you do have the right to that house. In a similar way, we do not deserve Heaven! But God's grace and Christ's sacrifice give us the right to accept the terms of the covenant, and that is what this thirty-day challenge is all about.

It's coming! I would encourage you to commit yourself now, and to get as many of those you care for to do the same - certainly not because this is the only way (or even the best way for everyone) to read through the New Testament. But it is a good way, and it's nice to have company when you are doing something as worthwhile as beginning (or continuing) your journey to Heaven.

I hope that you will join us! Be sure to like and share this article to get the word out to as many as possible.