Something I say regularly is, "God makes the worst of sinners preachers". It forces a rebellious sinner like me into God's Word every day, every week. And that is a grace.
So, while I'm a pastor, I nonetheless relate to the temptation to set aside Bible reading and prayer—because I'm human and we all have crooked hearts. But here's what you and I both know: Bible reading is an essential spiritual discipline. Scripture reveals the character and will of God in foundational and shaping ways and guides Jesus followers in Truth.
Recent research from the Center for Bible Engagement (CBE) is proving this point:
"A key discovery from the CBE research is that the life of someone who engages scripture 4 or more times a week looks radically different from the life of someone who does not. In fact, the lives of Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers."
This is a fascinating finding: reading the Bible 4+ days a week is critical for growth in the Christian faith.
The data speaks for itself and is a crucial reality for followers of Jesus to really grasp and respond accordingly:
Author and pastor, Scott Sauls, makes the point this way:
So I want to give you the same challenge I'm giving myself afresh in 2020. Get in the Word daily. Take a day off a week, sure, but four, five, six, seven days a week, get in the Word, get close to Jesus, hear Him in His own words and let your life be shaped accordingly.
As followers of Jesus our posture is to be one of submitted to God under His Word, not submitting the Word to ourselves. Timothy Keller put it this way, "Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can't accept; but Christians should reverse that, allowing the Bible to examine us, looking for things God can't accept. Then the sweet grace offered, the beauty of his love, will mean something to you." This only happens when we live in the Scriptures with a posture of submission.
The best way to be a committed student of the Word is to have a plan. One way to go about that is to read through books of the Bible. Read one of the gospels, then read Genesis, then Acts, then one of the prophet books, etc. Another way to have a plan is to follow one of the many solid Bible Reading Plans that are out there. Some lead you through the Bible in a year. Others lead you through the Bible in two years. Some are chronological, others get you in both the Old Testament and the New every day.
Committing to Bible reading is to put the spiritual in spiritual disciplines. It will bless your faith like nothing else. To have a plan is to put the discipline in spiritual disciplines. Some will say that it's legalistic to hold yourself to such a task. But those are the same people who rarely (if ever) crack their Bibles and whose faith tends to look less like Jesus and more like something unattractive. Like Scott Sauls said, the more we are with Jesus the more we will be like Him. That is the goal of the Christian life in response to grace.
Again, the goal isn't to breeze through passages in lightning speed but not absorb their meaning. The goal is to encounter God, to know Him, and to meditate on His Word. So for that reason, I advocate for intentional Bible reading and meditating on what you read more than simply breezing through a few chapters to tick a box.
I hope the following resources can steer you in the right direction. And I hope, more than anything, that you will take up your Bible and read. There is no greater task that you can commit to, Jesus-follower.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
- Read the Bible in a Year with TGC
- The M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan linked through the ESV Bible website. The site automatically gathers all of your reading onto one page for simplicity and if you miss a day you can make easy adjustments.
- D.A. Carson's For the Love of God is a wonderful (and free!) companion devotional book to use alongside your Bible Reading Plan
- Additionally, here are 10 Bible Reading Plans from Crossway—These are especially helpful because of the many formats available (RSS, iCal, mobile, print, email). For example, if you have a long commute to work, consider listening to the Bible in a year. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear (Rev. 2:29).
- Here is a list of 15 Bible Reading Plans compiled by Ligonier Ministries.
- Consider downloading this Bible app, which has several good plans.
- Here is a simple print-off version of the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan.