Daily Bible Reading: Five Points on How to Develop the Habit

Ever started a bible reading plan and petered out after a week or two? Maybe you made it to Leviticus and that was it? Here are five principles that will help you develop a daily reading habit:

1. Don’t expect to have a felt “spiritual experience” every time you open the bible. God feeds, strengthens, sanctifies, transforms, builds, corrects and rebukes you through his word. Every syllable is God breathed and absolutely true and sufficient for all the needs of the Christian. It is God’s way of revealing his nature, personality, character and will to you. He is interested in your sustained, life-long, committed engagement with him not your finding immediate gratification. So don’t expect it.

2. Read the whole thing.Don’t skip to your favorite passages. Don’t look around to see what the bible says about a given topic. Engage in a systematic daily immersion.

3. Read systematically: Choose a method and follow that method through the entire bible. When you finish, start over. Repeat until you die. My method is the following: I read four chapters a day (sounds like a lot but it only takes about 30 mins). I read two chapters of the Old Testament beginning in Genesis and going all the way to the last Old Testament book, Malachi. After my two chapters of the Old Testament, I read one chapter from the Gospels and/or Acts. I go from Matthew 1 all the way to Acts 28 and then I go back and start over. I read one chapter from Romans to Revelation, beginning in Romans 1 and going all the way to the last chapter of Revelation. Using this system I get through the entire New Testament several times before I finish the Old Testament once. One of the benefits of this system is that you continually see the inter-connectedness and interdependence of the two Testaments. Another benefit is that you are simultaneously immersed in three ongoing stories….which is helpful if, like me, you have ADD.

4. Don’t be a legalist: This is the fatal flaw of all “One Year Bible” programs. If you miss a day or “get behind” catching up is almost impossible and so daunting many people just give up. Don’t do that. If you miss a day(s), so what? Just pick back up where you left off. You are developing a lifetime habit, the goal of which is to know scripture and thereby know God and hear his voice. Your goal is not to finish in a set amount of time. You are finished when you die.

5. Know that you are being fed, edified, strengthened, sanctified as you read even if you don’t feel it (2 Tim 3:15-16, John 17:17, Matt 4:4). Just think of the way a person who weighs 300 pounds feels after the first week of working out and dieting…lots of pain, very little to show for it. It is the long term that matters. That’s when you see the benefits and experience the spiritual growth and maturity that God has promised to provide through his word.

Anne and I are both stacked today with Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday stuff. I wrote the short article above a few months ago responding to a friend’s request for bible-reading advice. I thought it might be helpful for the beginning of Lent