A Simple Plan to Read the Bible

First, Forget About It

Many of us feel guilt when we think about reading the Bible. We remember all the failed starts. We regret all the mornings we couldn’t get out of bed to spend a little time with God. Maybe we even tried at night and found ourselves asleep before the end of the first chapter. We know we should do better, but we just can’t. Maybe something is wrong with us.

Or maybe we’re completely normal.

Remember the guy who fell out of the window while Paul was preaching (Acts 20:9)? How do you think that guy felt?

If thinking about Bible reading stirs up guilt, here’s what you can do right now. By faith, you can read this verse from Philippians 3:13-14 and dare to believe it. “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on…”

Every one of your past failures has only served to bring you right here, right now. It’s a low place. A humble place. And there is no better place to start again with God. Forget what lies behind. You failed. Ok. I have too. But God still loves you. Jesus’s blood still cleanses you. The Holy Spirit still indwells you. His word is still there. It hasn’t disappeared. So press on. Strain forward. Start today.

But before you start, do something maybe you haven’t done before. Ask God for a new desire. Ask him to help you. Why would he say no to that prayer? He won’t!

Then, sit down and open your Bible and ask God for light. Ask him to help you read it. Ask him to engage with you through it. Ask him to be with you in every word. Why would he say no to that prayer? He won’t!

You can read the Bible. And you can start right now. So why not?

Now, Get a Plan

I don’t know about you, but my life works best when I have a plan. Nothing is set in stone. I’m not ultimately in control of my life, and you’re not ultimately in control of your life. But a plan sure helps to get me going. It probably helps you too.

One thing you might not realize is how achievable it actually is to read the Bible. For example, Justin Taylor once posted this on his blog. “There are about 775,000 words in the Bible. Divided by 365, that’s 2,123 words a day. The average person reads 200 to 250 words per minute. So 2,123 words/day divided by 225 words/minute equals 9.4 minutes a day.”[1]

Reading the Bible in a year takes less than 10 minutes a day. You can do that!

To help you, there are more Bible reading plans than I can list here. Google is your friend. Use it. Find one that works for you.[2] There are no rules. The point is not to get the “right” plan but the “right now” plan. Our lives change. Our time frees up or freezes up, depending on our circumstances. Parents with young kids do not have the free time that empty nesters have. Find something that works for you.

The best plan in the world is the plan that helps you. So find one that does that. You might need to experiment a little bit. That’s okay!

When the Going Gets Tough

Maybe you’ve been down this road before and are ready to start again, but you know what’s up ahead. You know, at some point, it’s going to get hard.

How do we continue when it gets hard? Like anything in life, there will be some tough times. You may, for example, start a Bible reading plan that puts you in Genesis, then Exodus, then, gulp, Leviticus. And you hit Leviticus with absolute determination to plow through, but you get so bogged down in all the laws that seem so detailed and meaningless today.

Well, let me comfort you. You’re not the first person to think that. Not even close.

Now, let me encourage you. The investment is worth it. If you pay close attention to the laws of Leviticus, the rest of the Old Testament will make much more sense. When you get to the gospels, you will understand the Pharisees better. When you reach the end of the New Testament, you will appreciate the book of Hebrews, especially chapters 8-10, and not many people understand those chapters very well!

But more than that, Jesus is there deep in the pages of Leviticus. He’s there in the sacrificial system. He’s there in the ceremonial laws. He’s there in the rules and regulations that set a nation apart to himself. He’s the One who will fulfill every bit of it, so you don’t have to. If you read it that way, asking God for help through each chapter, you’ll be surprised at how relevant it suddenly feels.

But maybe you don’t have a problem reading even the “boring” parts. Your problem is consistency. Okay. I get that too. Life is busy, and sometimes we don’t have time. You missed a day of your plan. Then another day. Then a week. And you sit down, and it’s something like ten chapters to catch up on. Well, here’s an idea. Just skip those chapters. Go back to them later when you do have time. Don’t let yesterday’s absence impact today’s reading. Press on. Strain forward.

After all, if you don’t read your Bible daily, do you know how many of God’s laws you’re breaking?

One?

Two?

Nope.

Zero.

Let’s not make our Bible reading into a new law by which we measure our standing with God. God never tells us we must read his word every day. For most of history, the world was populated by people who couldn’t read or didn’t have access to a Bible. God is not a hard taskmaster. We live in an age blessed to have the Bible in multiple formats readily available. That’s a gift that we should cherish. But we are not failing his law if we miss reading for a day. Relieve yourself of that guilt. Guilt does not compel us to pick up and read. Grace does. And there is more than enough of that deep in God’s heart for you.

Grace for the Journey

The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims grace and mercy over the entirety of your life. What Jesus accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection is the total salvation of your total self. It is the complete forgiveness of every single one of your sins—past, present, and future. It is the warm hug of love for every moment of your life.

You are not your failures; you are Jesus’s treasure.

You are not your sins; you have his victory.

You are not your weaknesses; the joy of the Lord is your strength.

You are not a mess-up; you are a child of the King.

You are not a disappointment; you are hidden in Christ with God.

You are totally free, totally loved, and totally secure in Jesus, your Savior.

Now, what if you lived out of that sense of acceptance? What if you woke up each morning preaching this gospel to yourself? What if, when you sinned, you looked to God for forgiveness, accepted it, and moved on? What if you approached all your life with faith in this Jesus? You can. And it will change you.

You need that kind of grace for the journey of life. You need it for the journey of Bible reading, too, because the Bible is the kind of book that will mess with you. When you read it, you’ll confront some tough things about yourself. God’s word is living and active. It cuts deep. It slices you open and exposes the parts of your heart you’d rather keep under cover. But God will take his scalpel and perform his surgery on you, and when that happens, you need to know it’s the hand of a loving physician. It’s a healing effort. He’s remaking you into the image of Christ. Let him.

[1] Taylor, Justin, Reading the Whole Bible in 2016: An FAQ, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/reading-the-whole-bible-in-2016-an-faq/

[2] Here is one great place to find a plan: https://www.ligonier.org/posts/bible-reading-plans