Reading the Bible is Essential to Following Jesus—Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the benefits that come with reading the Bible.  Click here to read that post. 

Today, we are going to look at making a simple plan to read the Bible on a daily (or near-daily) basis.  As James Clear says in his best-selling book Atomic Habits, “You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”  It’s great to set a goal to read the Bible on a regular basis, but that by itself will not make anything happen.  We need to create a system that works with your schedule so that we can create the habit of reading the Bible.  Once we do this, it will become nearly automatic. 

To accomplish this, we need to answer the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of Bible reading.

The Who is you.  You will be reading alone.  It is great to read with other people, but it is not a substitute for getting alone with God.  You can and should get an accountability partner to do it with you, so they you can keep each other on track, but do not actually read the Bible together. 

I will discuss the What down below.

You must determine the Where and When together.  What fits in with your schedule?  Name a time and place that will be available each day.  I read my Bible at the dining room table while my wife is at work.  On the weekends I read while she is upstairs “getting ready” (shower, makeup, etc.).  Try something.  If it doesn’t work, try something else.  You’ll get it right in no time.  Keep in mind that early in the day generally works better than late in the day.  Feel free to get up 20 minutes earlier.  Making time with God’s word is a matter of priority.  Something will have to go.  It may be TV time, scrolling time, or some other less important activity.

Why is covered by yesterday’s blog post.

For the How, I suggest that you read out loud.  Get someplace with no other people or distraction if possible.  I have found that reading the Bible out loud is a gamechanger.  For one thing, it engages both your eyes and ears, which engages more of your brain, so you can discover and remember the text better.  If we read silently, we often find that our mind wanders.  This happens far less when we read out loud.  I also find it spiritually rewarding to read God’s word out loud.  It makes the message more real to me.  I notice more things that I would miss if I read silently.  The benefit to reading the Bible out loud is worth the effort.

Now What should you read?  Ideally you should have a plan to read the whole Bible.  Some people just start at Genesis 1:1 and attempt to read straight through to the end.  While this is great if you actually do it, I believe there is a better way.

In the 1980s and 90s, it was popular to read through the Bible in one year.  Some people would read straight through the Bible, while others used plans such as The One Year Bible which gave you an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, and a portion of Psalms to read each day.

While this is a great thing to do, there are several problems with this method.  So, I created the Dynamic Chronological Bible Reading Plan (DCBRP) that fixes most of these problems. 

First, there is nothing magical with reading the Bible in a year.  If you read the whole thing and it takes you a year and a half, you still have accomplished more than most believers ever will. 

Second, starting with the Old Testament and reading it just as often as the New Testament is difficult.  The DCBRP starts with the New Testament, reads the Old Testament, and then New Testament in less than 2 years. 

Third, almost all “Read through the Bible in a year” plans read 7 days a week.  If you miss a day, you have to read twice as much the next day.  This becomes a tall task, and it leads to you not reading, which makes you further behind, which means you have to read even more, and it becomes a vicious cycle.  The DCBRP only requires you to read 5 days a week, which leaves Saturday and Sunday to catch up so you aren’t likely to get too far behind. 

Fourth, most yearly plans are designed to start on January 1 and are difficult to start at other times.  Either you have to start in the middle or spend time “rejiggering” the plan to know what day you should be reading.  The DCBRP is designed to be started on any Monday. 

Finally, the DCBRP is arranged chronologically.  This is another gamechanger.  The books of the Bible are arranged by category; they are not arranged in the order that they happened in history.  This means that different information about one event is found in different places in the Bible.  By reading chronologically, you can trace the events of the Bible through history as it developed.  This alone makes the Bible much easier to follow and understand. 

Are you interested in the Dynamic Chronological Bible Reading Plan?

You can get it right here.

If you want a complete guide to setting up daily devotions with a Bible reading and prayer time, you can get Connecting with Jesus here. 

In any case, I hope that you will not just read these articles but actually create the habit of reading the Bible daily.  I have developed my methods to assist you, but whether you use them or do it on your own, they important thing is that you are spending time in God’s word.  It will literally change your life.  God guarantees it.