Jesus was deeply acquainted with the Scriptures. At the age of 12 he’s so engrossed in discussing the interpretation of the Bible that he misses the bus home, leading to much panic among his family. When he goes to church, he’s able to open up a portion of Scripture and deliver a spontaneous and compelling sermon on the spot, stirring up heated responses.
He can pull lines of Scripture out of his mind, verbatim, in a way that confounds critics, silences the devil, and fuels his prayers. There is no doubt that he is the perfect embodiment of the righteous man described in Psalm 1, whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Jesus knows the Father intimately, but he doesn’t bypass the Bible as an unnecessary encumbrance (unlike many who pose as spiritual today, but have a scant and superficial knowledge of God’s word). Nor does he have some kind of Matrix-style download shortcut; his knowledge of the Bible came from years of reading and re-reading, most likely out loud in synagogue.
As I think about Jesus, I’m reminded as to why I need to read the Bible, every day, again and again. He said as much (quoting the Bible): Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Eating bread (or rice or pasta or potatoes) every day has never been a problem for me. It seems like Jesus has the same kind of expectation about us reading his word.
As we prepare for a new year to arrive, I’d encourage you to think about starting a Bible reading plan (if you don’t already follow one). A reading plan is a system that tells you what passages to read on any given day. You can definitely read the Bible without a plan, and there’s no theological compulsion to use one. But, in my experience, using a Bible reading plan is really helpful for a few reasons: (1) It helps me stay on course. The Bible is a big book (a collection of books, to be precise). All of us are intimidated by the size of it, and the amount of time you need to invest to get to know it. A Bible reading plan helps make the whole thing more manageable by breaking the task up into daily portions. (2) It sets a steady pace. I want to read the Bible at a set pace, and I know that if I follow my feelings I might read lots on one day, and barely any the next, then give up for an extended period of time. A plan helps me stay steady. (3) It gives me a varied diet. The Bible gets richer and richer the more you read it. Every part of it helps shed light on other parts. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t find parts of the Bible difficult to read (such as the minor prophets). Left to my own devices, I’ll stick to the parts I like, and be ignorant as a result. Following a plan is like any good habits of eating – you should eat your veg as well as your burgers.
What if you’re a slow reader? The slowest readers tend to read at the same pace you can read out loud. It takes about 75 hours to read the whole Bible out loud. That works out at just over 12 minutes a day if you want to read the Bible in one year.
Here’s a few practical tips:
(1) Choose a good plan. There are many, many options. But I think you can’t do much better than one of these:
Community Bible Reading (CBR). It takes you through the Bible once in three years, and teaches you to pray every passage back to God. That makes your reading and praying much richer. You can also find other people in our church who can walk with you. We have journals to help you available to buy on Sunday, and they contain some pages of invaluable advice.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s plan. He pastored a church in Scotland in the 1800s, and developed this plan for his church. The idea was to read two chapters with the family, and two chapters in private, morning and evening. (Here’s the family/private version). I know of many pastors who have used this plan. It takes you through the Old Testament once in a year, and the New Testament and Psalms twice, reading about four chapters a day. That’s a nice balance.
Discipleship Journal. This plan is clever, because there are 25 readings per month. That means you can afford to miss a few days, and you won’t fall badly behind.
(2) Choose a time of day. Most people find it easiest to do this first thing, with a cup of coffee. I have found that if I don’t read the Bible first, I probably won’t get around to it that day.
(3) Choose a place. You’re looking to establish a predictable routine so that you don’t need to keep making the decision to read the Bible every day – it becomes automatic. Routines are easier to build when you follow particular patterns and behaviours. So, believe it or not, knowing exactly where you’re going to sit every day will be useful to you. You’re trying to remove any friction that might stop you from following through. I tend to read the Bible in the same chair every day, and I try and make sure my Bible is waiting there so I don’t need to go looking for it.
(4) Choose to focus. Your phone is going to be a problem. I know this from experience. Better you leave it somewhere out of sight. That will make your experience of reading much richer. (I’m also not a big fan of reading the Bible on a device; maybe I’m just more susceptible to distraction than most people?)
(5) Choose a good Bible. This is a bonus tip, and to be honest, most of you should ignore it because you’re not all weirdly particular about things like I am. But I have found much greater pleasure in using a copy of the Bible that’s well made, without ghosting (where the letters show through the page), and with a readable font. Maybe ask for one for Christmas? That said, buying a nice Bible is exactly the kind of thing someone does when they hope that throwing money at the issue is suddenly going to get them motivated. It won’t!
If you’re still needing motivation, I put together a few verses to challenge some leaders a while back, and they are posted here.