Perhaps the comments and questions in “A Daily Walk” don’t go deep enough for you, you have more time to delve into the New Testament text or you have some specific questions to answer or interests to pursue. I offer the following suggestions of things you can do and resources you can use to spice up your daily walk.

Memorize
There is no better way to ruminate over the text personally than to commit passages that are important to you to memory. There’s only one way to memorize a text and that is to go over it and over it. In doing so not only will you become intimately familiar with the passage, but connections and meanings that were unseen or shrouded in fog will become clear.

Read Out Loud
The text of the New Testament was written with the understanding that most would only ever hear it read out loud. There were no publishing houses back then and many people couldn’t read anyway. It was designed to be read out loud. But don’t read it in monotones; read it with feeling. Get into the text. Also you can listen to it being read on CD. Download it to your MP3 player and you can listen to God’s word on your way to and from work (presuming that you aren’t driving).

Read from Other Translations
If all you ever read is the NIV, it’s about time to read from some other translations. My preference and recommendation is that you either avoid reading paraphrases and one-man “translations” (such as The Living Word or The Message) altogether or that you read them only in conjunction with a well respected committee translation such as: the King James (KJV), the American Standard (ASV), the Revised Standard (RSV), the New American Standard (NASV) and the New International (NIV).

New Testament Introductions
Before beginning each new NT book in “A Daily Walk” series, learn about it from well-written New Testament Survey books. These typically give important background information about the author, the recipients, date, overview of contents, outline, important themes, purpose, etc. Some study Bibles have brief, but well-written introductions on each book. Here are some NT Surveys that I have in my library.
• “How to Read the Bible Book by Book” – Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart
• “Introduction to the New Testament” – Everett F. Harrison
• “New Testament Survey” – Merrill C. Tenny
• “A Survey of the New Testament” – Robert H. Gundy

Online Resources
Bible study resources abound on the internet; many of good quality and descent scholarship and some that are theologically slanted and cannot be trusted. Be careful and if relatively new to the Bible, get some advice. Douglas Jacoby started a daily Bible study on his website (www.douglasjacoby.com) as of January 1, 2008, that also began with Matthew. His site includes numerous comments about the text that are both “general” and advanced”. I’m not sure if his study will proceed through the NT books beyond Matthew in the same order we are going, but at least it is a resource you can use now.

Bottom Line
Whatever you do, don’t let your Bible reading and study be boring, mundane, dull, routine, bland, etc. This is the word of God! It is God’s communication to his creation. It is his love letter to humanity. It records the most amazing events in the history of the universe. But most of all, it is the only way you can know God and his will for your life.