The Conundrum of Daily Bible Reading (Part 3)
The Conundrum of Daily Bible Reading (Part Three)
I have a hopeless sweet tooth. If I order Italian dressing, I always put a packet or two of sweetener on my salad. If you are thinking, “Oh gag,” I get it. What makes us people is that we are people – a lot the same, and lot different. So, when it comes to daily Bible reading, it is impossible to pour Christians into the mold of one size fits all.
Still, in America we are those “to whom much is given” (Luke 12:48). Of the 7,378 languages in the world, 3,883 do not have the Scriptures in their own language.1 In contrast, Bible Gateway puts over sixty versions of the Bible in English at our fingertips with a computer keystroke.2 Parts of our world live in biblical poverty; we are wealthy beyond measure. If we can read, we have a responsibility to get into and stay into God’s word.
What follows are merely suggestions. Not all of them will apply to everyone, but hopefully some of us will find ideas that motivate us to minimize the conundrum.
Just do it! Many of us just need to commit again to daily Bible reading. Each time we get out of the routine, then recommit, that is a victory. Focusing on failure rather than grasping the opportunity anew is counterproductive. Start reading and feel good about it! If you hit a snag, don’t beat yourself up. Start over again. Just do it!
Choose a Readable Version. Some Bible versions are designed to read easier. A practical guide for determining the reading level of various Bible versions can be found at Christianbook.com.3 Some of the smartest people I know like the New Living Translation, yet it is rated at a 6th grade reading level. Other versions like the New American Standard are rated at 11th grade, the English Standard at 10th grade, the New International at 8th grade, and the King James at 12th grade. Regardless of your reading level, pick one that reads easily for you.
Follow a plan. If you plan to read the whole Bible in a year, there are good plans you can follow for each day’s reading. A clear direction always helps. Do an online search or ask a Christian friend to help you find a reading schedule. However, don’t assume that you must read through the Bible in a year. That is a great goal, but if you want smaller portions for daily reading, select a Bible book and the number of verses you want to cover daily. Slow and steady often wins the race.
Remember study is reading. A percentage of Christians prefer to do their own Bible study, digging deeper than a surface read. That might be as a student learning from a good Bible teacher, as a Bible teacher yourself, or independently for personal benefit. The vast majority of my own Bible reading has come through Bible study. One of the conundrums we discussed is the need for someone to guide our understanding. It is hard to think about reading what we don’t understand. Sitting at the feet of gifted teachers, like the disciples at Jesus’ feet, still required me to read the Scriptures we were studying. The same is true if I am preparing to teach. Some argue that Bible study does not qualify as daily devotion in Bible reading, but I can’t find that verse in Scripture. It most certainly does.
Stretch it out. The Psalmist meditated on God’s word day and night (Psalm 119:97,148). Meditation isn’t moving on to a new passage every day but reading the same Bible passage or Bible truth daily, either literally or in your mind. To memorize Scripture, we have to read and recite it many times to get it cemented in our minds. Taking a passage heard in a sermon or class and reading it daily throughout the week, thinking through its implication for life, is still reading and is powerful!
You can read the Scriptures and not know God. Wrong conclusions drawn from Scripture or a purely academic approach does not lead to knowing God intimately. But for people of faith, we recognize that God speaks directly to us through his word in personal and powerful ways. Getting into the word is not an intellectual exercise but a personal encounter with the living God in which we get to know him more completely. Let’s think of ways to do this daily!
1https://wycliffe.net/resources/statistics
2https://www.biblegateway.com
3https://support.biblegateway.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001403747-What-are-the-reading-levels-of-the-Bibles-on-Bible-Gateway-
See also … https://christianbook.com/page/bibles/about/bible-translation-reading-levels
